Electron transfer, luminescence

A remarkable number of organic compounds luminesce when subjected to consecutive oxidation-reduction (or reduction-oxidation) in aprotic solvents1-17 under conditions where anion radicals are oxidized or cation radicals are reduced. In many instances, the emission is identical with that of the normal solution fluorescence of the compound employed. In these instances the redox process has served to produce neutral molecules in an excited electronic state. These consecutive processes which result in emission are not special examples of oxidative chemiluminescence, but are more properly classified as electron transfer luminescence in solution since the sequence oxidation-reduction can be as effective as reduction-oxidation.8,10,12 A simple molecular orbital diagram, although it is a zeroth-order approximation of what might be involved under some conditions, provides a useful starting... 

The majority of the electron-transfer luminescence spectra that have been measured8-16,17 have been found to show shape and structure which quite closely conform to the fluorescence spectra of the electroactive component (cf. Fig. 7). A substantial minority of both chemical and electrochemical experiments have, however, produced emission which shows no similarity to the known fluorescence of the electroactive substance. Assignment of these emissions has been more difficult and the conclusions less certain. 

At this point it is necessary to consider the mechanism of electron-transfer luminescence in solutions which cannot involve ion-radical annihilation because both cation and anion of the fluorescer are not formed. Such emission can be achieved by treating anion radicals with chemical oxidants or electrochemically under conditions where the corresponding cation cannot be produced, and it may also be achieved by electrochemical reduction of cations without producing the corresponding anion. In addition to triplets, three types of processes and pathways have been proposed to help explain why such emission occurs. These may be described as (7) impurities, (2) ion-radical aggregates, and (5) heterogeneous electron transfer. It is evident63 that impurities,... 

Much has been learned about electron-transfer luminescence in solution in the few years since its discovery. However, an understanding of the mechanistic details of this energy conversion process is not satisfactory. Much also remains to be learned about the sources of the emissions which are not due to the fluorescence of the substrate. 

A special situation is encountered with metal-porphyrin or metal-phthalo-cyanine molecules that can be either deposited by sublimation under UHV conditions or in solution environments. For these macrocyclic compounds, free-base species exist, i.e., the metal centers are not required per se as a construction unit. The building of supramolecular structures that incorporate porphyrin subunits is of great interest to many research groups. The rich photochemistry and redox properties (e.g., photoinduced electron transfer, luminescence, and light harvesting) of porphyrins have driven this interest. Porphyrins or phtalocyanines have a rich coordination chemistry that allows the inclusion of many different metal centers at their macrocycle. They serve in many respects as a model system since this constitutes a low-coordination complex. Recent STM studies report on the organization of metal-coordinated or free-base porphyrins as well as phthalocyanines on... 

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