Sequential energy and charge transfer processes in mixed host–guest complexes of subphthalocyanine, porphyrin and phthalocyanine chromophores

Porphyrins, phthalocyanines and subphthalocyanines are three attractive classes of chromophores with intriguing properties making them suitable for the design of artificial photosynthetic systems. The assembly of these components by a supramolecular approach is of particular interest as it provides a facile means to build multi-chromophoric arrays with various architectures and tuneable photophysical properties. In this paper, we show the formation of mixed host–guest supramolecular complexes that consist of a β-cyclodextrin-conjugated subphthalocyanine, a tetrasulfonated porphyrin and a series of silicon(IV) phthalocyanines substituted axially with two β-cyclodextrins via different spacers. We found that the three components form supramolecular complexes held by host–guest interactions in aqueous solution. Upon excitation of the subphthalocyanine part of the complex, the excitation energy is delivered to the phthalocyanine unit via excitation energy transfer and the porphyrin chromophore acts as an energy transfer bridge enabling this process. It was shown that photo-induced charge transfer also takes place. A sequential electron transfer process from the porphyrin unit to the phthalocyanine moiety and subsequently from the subphthalocyanine moiety to the porphyrin unit takes place, and the probability of this process is controlled by the linker between β-cyclodextrin and phthalocyanine. The lifetime of the charge-separated state was found to be 1.7 ns by transient absorption spectroscopy.