Supramolecular design of a porphyrin–[60]fullerene photocurrent generation system on a DNA scaffold fabricated by a conjugate polymer film

DNA which binds monocationic [60]fullerene (1) and tetracationic porphyrin (TMPyP) was readily fabricated by electrochemical oxidative polymerization of 3.4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) and the resultant poly(EDOT) composite was deposited on an ITO electrode as a stable thin film. Spectral and CV analyses established that one 1 and one TMPyP are bound per 57 nucleobase units, that is, every three pitches of DNA. Photoirradiation of this 1/TMPyP/DNA-poly(EDOT) film generated a photocurrent in 3.8% quantum yield, which was much higher than those obtained from 1/DNA and TMPyP/DNA systems. One can conclude, therefore that the photoexcited energy of TMPyP is transferred to 1, which is collected by the electron-conducting poly(EDOT) film. The present paper shows that DNA is useful as a scaffold to arrange redox-active couples in a one-dimensional matrix.