A thorough investigation on the physicochemical properties, including electrochemisty and photophysics, of a new class of donor−acceptor hybrids, namely, phthalocyanine-fullerene dyads, consisting of free base 1a and zinc and copper complexes 1b and 1c, respectively, brings new insights into the stabilization of charge-separated radical ion pairs and the impact of redoxactive transition-metal centers on the photoperformance of macrocyclic phthalocyanines. In these dyads, the role of the phthalocyanines is twofold:  First, it functions as an antenna (i.e., absorbing very efficiently light in the visible region of the solar spectrum) and, second, as a donor moleculeonce photoexcited. The initial photoexcitation is succeeded by an ultrafast electron transfer largely due to the strong electronic coupling between electron donor (Pc) and electron acceptor (C60) generating surprisingly long-lived radical ion pairs Pc•+−C60 •- with lifetimes of several nanoseconds. Large driving forces for the charge recombination and small reorganization energies of the Pc−C60 ensembles corroborate slow charge recombination dynamics, which, in turn, helps to rationalize the long lifetimes of Pc•+−C60 •-.

The first report regarding SOD activity of metallocorroles, investigated via the combination of the cytochrome C assay, pulse radiolysis, and electrochemistry, is used for identifying the main criteria needed for achieving good performance, as well as for elucidating mechanistic aspects of their action.

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Novel organic (positively charged fullerene)-inorganic (negatively charged CdTe nanoparticle) nanoensembles were devised through electrostatic interactions and probed as versatile donor-acceptor hybrids. Photoirradiation of their homogeneous solutions, containing the electrostatically packed components, let to very long-lived (1.3 ms) charge separated states.