Although kinetically inert cationic Co(III)TMPyP 5+ (H2TMPyP 4+ = 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(methylpyridinium-4-yl)porphyrin) was considered earlier to be very weakly emissive, both the spectrum and the lifetime of its fluorescence could be determined. Besides, this complex proved to be favorable for outer-sphere photoinduced reduction of the metal center in the presence of triethanolamine (TEOA) as electron donor quenching the triplet excited state of this metalloporphyrin. The corresponding cobalt(II) porphyrin formed in this way was also photoactive; it forwarded an electron to a suitable acceptor (e.g., methylviologen) upon irradiation, regenerating the starting complex. Hence, this system may be a candidate for hydrogen generation from water by utilization of visible light. Metalloporphyrins play important roles in nature, due to their special spectral, coordination and redox features. Their advantageous photoinduced properties can also be exploited in various photocatalytic procedures [1]. Water-soluble derivatives can be utilized in environmentally benign systems not containing organic solvents. Kinetically inert in-plain metalloporphyrins, in which the metal center coplanarly fits into the cavity of the ligand, may offer promising possibilities for realization of photocatalytic systems based on outer-sphere electron transfer [2]. The so-called hyper-porphyrins can be especially interesting in this respect, due to their distorted structure, which may increase the (photo)redox reactivity of these complexes. From water-soluble metalloporphyrins of this type, photoredox reactions of manganese(III) complexes were thoroughly studied [1,3,4], while scarce attention was paid to the corresponding cobalt(III) porphyrins in this respect.
Keywords: cobalt(III) porphyrinPhotocatalytic oxidation of the sulfide content of a wastewater to sulfate was studied with Co(III)TMPyP 5+ , Mn(III)TMPyP 5+ , and Fe(III)TMPyP 5+ (H2TMPyP 4+ = 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(1-methylpyridinium-4-yl)porphyrin) [5]. Upon irradiation in the range of the Soretbands, the cobalt(III) complex proved to be the most efficient, but the results have not been interpreted. This metalloporphyrin can also connect to the chain of DNA and oxidatively split it in the presence of suitable electron acceptors [6]. Since cationic manganese(III) porphyrins proved to be efficient photocatalysts in the presence of appropriate electron donors (such as EDTA and TEOA) and methylviologen as electron acceptor [1,3,7], cationic cobalt(III) porphyrins, the other characteristic representatives of water-soluble hyper-porphyrins, are also worth investigating in this respect. Hence, in this work, some photophysical and photochemical properties of Co(III)TMPyP 5+ were studied, also confirming its photocatalytic behavior, which may be utilized in water-splitting by solar radiation.The compounds used for our experiments were of reagent grade. Water purified in a Millipore/Milli-Q system was applied as solvent. Stock solutions of Co(III)TMPyP 5+ were prepared by in situ generation ...