Duan Honghong, Cao Fan, Hao Hongxing, Bian Hongtao, Cao Liping
College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Northwest University, Xi'an 710069, P. R. China.
Key Laboratory of Applied Surface and Colloid Chemistry of Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an 710062, P. R. China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2021 Apr 14;13(14):16837-16845. doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c01867. Epub 2021 Mar 30.
Artificial photofunctional systems with energy and electron transfer functions, inspired from photosynthesis in nature, have been developed for many promising applications including solar cell, biolabeling, photoelectric materials, and photodriven catalysis. Supramolecular hosts including macrocycles and cages have been explored for simulating photosynthesis based on a host-guest strategy. Herein, we report a host-guest approach by using a tetraphenylethene-based octacationic cage and fluorescent dyes to construct artificial photofunctional systems with energy and electron transfer functions. The cage traps various dyes within its hydrophobic cavity to form 1:1 host-guest complexes via CH-π, π-π, and/or electrostatic interactions in solution. The efficient energy transfer and ultrafast photoinduced electron transfer between the cage and dyes are competitive processes with each other in artificial photofunctional systems. Spectroscopic techniques that confirm energy transfer from the fluorescent cage to dyes (e.g., , , and ) are efficient, which induce the red shift of fluorescence. On the other hand, ultrafast photoinduced electron transfer from dyes (e.g., , , and ) to the fluorescent cage can induce fluorescence quenching. This study provides an insight into the construction of artificial photofunctional systems with energy and electron transfer functions via a host-guest approach in solution.
受自然界光合作用启发，具有能量和电子转移功能的人工光功能系统已被开发用于许多有前景的应用，包括太阳能电池、生物标记、光电材料和光驱动催化。基于主客体策略，包括大环和笼状化合物在内的超分子主体已被用于模拟光合作用。在此，我们报道了一种主客体方法，通过使用基于四苯乙烯的八阳离子笼和荧光染料来构建具有能量和电子转移功能的人工光功能系统。该笼在其疏水腔内捕获各种染料，通过溶液中的CH-π、π-π和/或静电相互作用形成1:1的主客体复合物。在人工光功能系统中，笼与染料之间高效的能量转移和超快的光致电子转移是相互竞争的过程。证实从荧光笼到染料的能量转移的光谱技术（例如， 、 、 ）是有效的，这会导致荧光红移。另一方面，从染料（例如， 、 、 ）到荧光笼的超快光致电子转移会导致荧光猝灭。本研究为通过溶液中的主客体方法构建具有能量和电子转移功能的人工光功能系统提供了见解。
