Photoinduced energy- and electron-transfer processes within dynamic self-assembled donor-acceptor arrays

The synthesis and the photophysical properties of a series of noncovalently assembled donor-acceptor systems, dyads, is reported. The presented approach uses an "innocent" coordination compound, a scandium(III) acetyl acetonate derivative, as core and promotor of the dyad formation. Intercomponent photoinduced energy transfer or electron transfer within the dynamic assembly, which yields to a statistical library of donor-acceptor systems, is reported. The assemblies for energy-transfer processes are constituted by an energy donor, Ru(bpy)32+-based component (bpy = 2,2′-bipyridine), and by an energy-acceptor moiety, anthracene-based unit, both substituted with a chelating ligand, acetyl acetone, that via coordination with a scandium ion will ensure the formation of the dyad. If N,N,N′N′-tetramethyl-2,5-diaminobenzyl-substituted acetyl acetonate ligands are used in the place of 9-acyl-anthracene, intramolecular photoinduced electron transfer from the amino derivative (electron donor) to the Ru(bpy)32+-unit was detected upon self-assembly, mediated by the scandium complex. The photophysical processes can be studied on the lifetime of the kinetically labile complexes.