Concerted proton-coupled
electron transfer (PCET) in the Marcus
inverted region was recently demonstrated (
Science
2019
,
364
, 471–475). Understanding
the requirements for such reactivity is fundamentally important and
holds promise as a design principle for solar energy conversion systems.
Herein, we investigate the solvent polarity and temperature dependence
of photoinduced proton-coupled charge separation (CS) and charge recombination
(CR) in anthracene–phenol–pyridine triads:
1
(10-(4-hydroxy-3-(4-methylpyridin-2-yl)benzyl)anthracene-9-carbonitrile)
and
2
(10-(4-hydroxy-3-(4-methoxypyridin-2-yl)benzyl)anthracene-9-carbonitrile).
Both the CS and CR rate constants increased with increasing polarity
in acetonitrile:
n
-butyronitrile mixtures. The kinetics
were semi-quantitatively analyzed where changes in dielectric and
refractive index, and thus consequently changes in driving force (−Δ
G
°) and reorganization energy (λ), were accounted
for. The results were further validated by fitting the temperature
dependence, from 180 to 298 K, in
n
-butyronitrile.
The analyses support previous computational work where transitions
to proton vibrational excited states dominate the CR reaction with
a distinct activation free energy (Δ
G
*
CR
∼ 140 meV). However, the solvent continuum model
fails to accurately describe the changes in Δ
G
° and λ with temperature via changes in dielectric constant
and refractive index. Satisfactory modeling was obtained using the
results of a molecular solvent model [
J. Phys. Chem. B
1999
,
103
, 9130–9140], which
predicts that λ decreases with temperature, opposite to that
of the continuum model. To further assess the solvent polarity control
in the inverted region, the reactions were studied in toluene. Nonpolar
solvents decrease both Δ
G
°
CR
and λ, slowing CR into the nanosecond time regime for
2
in toluene at 298 K. This demonstrates how PCET in the inverted
region may be controlled to potentially use proton-coupled CS states
for efficient solar fuel production and photoredox catalysis.