Quantum
coherence effects on charge transfer and spin dynamics
in a system having two degenerate electron acceptors are studied using
a zinc 5,10,15-tri(n-pentyl)-20-phenylporphyrin (ZnP)
electron donor covalently linked to either one or two naphthalene-1,8:4,5-bis(dicarboximide)
(NDI) electron acceptors using an anthracene (An) spacer, ZnP-An-NDI
(1) and ZnP-An-NDI2 (2), respectively.
Following photoexcitation of 1 and 2 in
toluene at 295 K, femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy shows
that the electron transfer (ET) rate constant for 2 is
about three times larger than that of 1, which can be
accounted for by the statistical nature of incoherent ET as well as
the electron couplings for the charge separation reactions. In contrast,
the rate constant for charge recombination (CR) of 1 is
about 25% faster than that of 2. Using femtosecond transient
infrared spectroscopy and theoretical analysis, we find that the electron
on NDI2
•– in 2 localizes
onto one of the two NDIs prior to CR, thus precluding electronically
coherent CR from NDI2
•–. Conversely,
CR in both 1 and 2 is spin coherent as indicated
by the observation of a resonance in the 3*ZnP yield following
CR as a function of applied magnetic field, giving spin–spin
exchange interaction energies of 2J = 210 and 236
mT, respectively, where the line width of the resonance for 2 is greater than 1. These data show that while
CR is a spin-coherent process, incoherent hopping of the electron
between the two NDIs in 2, consistent with the lack of
delocalization noted above, results in greater spin decoherence in 2 relative to 1.