Photoinduced charge separation (CS) and charge recombination (CR) processes have been examinedin various porphyrin-fullerene linked systems (i.e
., dyads and triads) by means of time-resolved transientabsorption spectroscopy and fluorescence lifetime measurements. The investigated compounds comprise ahomologous series of rigidly linked, linear donor-acceptor arrays with different donor-acceptor separationsand diversified donor strength: freebase porphyrin-C
60 dyad (
H2P-C60), zincporphyrin-C
60 dyad (
ZnP-C60),ferrocene-zincporphyrin-C
60 triad (
Fc-ZnP-C60), ferrocene-freebase porphyrin-C
60 triad (
Fc-H2P-C60), andzincporphyrin-freebase porphyrin-C
60 triad (
ZnP-H2P-C60). Most importantly, the lowest lying charge-separated state of all the investigated systems, namely, that of ferrocenium ion (Fc
+) and the C
60 radical anion(C
60
-) pair in the
Fc-ZnP-C60 triad, has been generated with the highest quantum yields (close to unity) andreveals a lifetime as long as 16
![](/images/entities/mgr.gif)
s. Determination of CS and CR rate constants, together with the one-electronredox potentials of the donor and acceptor moieties in different solvents, has allowed us to examine the drivingforce dependence (-
G0ET) of the electron-transfer rate constants (
kET). Hereby, the semilogarithmic plots(i.e., log
kET versus -
G0ET) lead to the evaluation of the reorganization energy (
![](/images/gifchars/lambda.gif)
) and the electronic couplingmatrix element (
V) in light of the Marcus theory of electron-transfer reactions:
![](/images/gifchars/lambda.gif)
= 0.66 eV and
V = 3.9cm
-1 for
ZnP-C60 dyad
and
![](/images/gifchars/lambda.gif)
= 1.09 eV and
V = 0.019 cm
-1 for
Fc-ZnP-C60,
Fc-H2P-C60, and
ZnP-H2P-C60 triads. Interestingly, the Marcus plot in
Fc-ZnP-C60,
Fc-H2P-C60, and
ZnP-H2P-C60 has provided clearevidence for intramolecular CR located in both the normal and inverted regions of the Marcus parabola. Thecoefficient for the distance dependence of
V (damping factor:
CR = 0.58 Å
-1) is deduced which dependsprimarily on the nature of the bridging molecule.