International audiencePorphyrins fused to peripheral N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHC) across two neighboring β,β-pyrrolic positions were used for the synthesis of different mono- and bis-carbenic gold(I) complexes. These studies also revealed how it is possible to modulate the reactivity of the peripheral NHC by deprotonating the inner NH groups of the fused free base porphyrin core. All complexes were fully characterized and displayed high stability, allowing the formation of mono-carbenic and also stable homoleptic and heteroleptic bis-carbenic Au(I) complexes. Optical and electrochemical properties of bis-carbenic Au(I) revealed no or weak electronic communication between the porphyrins, which behave as two independent groups

A weakly fluorescent Pt-bridged dyad composed of zinc(II) porphyrin (Zn; donor) and free base (Fb; acceptor) has been designed and exhibits an ultrafast singlet energy transfer between porphyrins. The use of larger atoms within the central linker significantly increases the MO coupling between the two chromophores and inherently the electronic communication.

We report the preparation of several new porphyrin homodimers bridged by a platinum(II) ion in which very intense electronic communication through the coordination link occurs. Moreover, the synthesis of a new porphyrin dyad and its photophysical properties are reported. This dyad exhibits the fastest singlet energy transfer ever reported for synthetic systems between a zinc(II) porphyrin and a porphyrin free base. This extremely fast transfer (∼100 femtoseconds) is in the same range as the fastest one measured in natural systems. This feature is due to the platinum(II) linker, which allows for strong MO couplings between the two porphyrin units as experimentally supported by electrochemistry and corroborated by DFT computations.