Synthesis and photophysics of a copper-porphyrin- styrene-C60 hybrid

A new conjugated porphyrin-fullerene dyad featuring a styrene linkage has been prepared in 11% overall yield from previously synthesized starting materials. In contrast to the singlet and triplet excited states commonly observed in analogous systems with zinc and free base porphyrins, the present investigation involves doublet and quartet ground and excited states. The photophysical pathways in the present system include intramolecular electron and energy transfer events, whose outcome depends predominantly on the solvent polarity.