EPR studies of photoinduced electron transfer in triad model compounds of photosynthesis

Time-resolved EPR spectra are reported for porphyrin-quinone-quinone and porphyrin-porphyrin-quinone triads obtained after photoexcitation in the nematic and soft glass phase of liquid crystals. Spin-polarized EPR spectra were observed for the triplet states of the porphyrin created by spin-selective intersystem crossing (ISC) from the excited singlet state and those of the charge-separated radical pair states (RP) generated by electron transfer (ET) processes. The EPR polarization patterns of the RP are discussed in terms of the favored decay channel of the photoexcited singlet state of the porphyrin donor. The decay pathway may either be singlet ET to the quinone(s) followed by singlet/triplet mixing to yield RPs with triplet character or triplet ET after ISC from the porphyrin singlet to the triplet state, or a superposition of both pathways. It is demonstrated that the nature of the linking bridge between donor and acceptor, i.e., aliphatic cyclohexylene or aromatic phenylene, significantly influences the ET mechanism and thus the polarization patterns of the RP spectra. Using liquid crystals, information about the orientation of the guest molecules in the liquid crystal matrix with respect to the long axes of the liquid crystal molecules can be obtained. In the porphyrin-porphyrin-quinone triads the energy and ET processes strongly depend on the type of metallation of the porphyrins, specifically, whether the distal, the vicinal or both porphyrins bear a zinc atom.