New tetra-aryl and bi-aryl porphyrins bearing 5,15-related fluorenyl pendants: the influence of arylation on fluorescence

The new tetra-aryl trans-A2B2-porphyrin with two fluoren-2-yl and two phenyl groups at the meso-positions has been synthesized and characterized, together with the analogous bi-aryl trans-A2-porphyrin incorporating only the fluorenyl groups. The photophysical properties of these new compounds in solution are reported. The two additional phenyl groups in the A2B2 porphyrin stabilize the first excited singlet state by approximately 500 cm−1 compared to the A2 system, as revealed by the red-shift of the absorption Q bands and of the fluorescence emission bands. Both compounds display enhanced emission quantum yields compared to tetraphenylporphyrin: the augmentation is higher for the tetra-aryl than for the bi-aryl system, although not as high as for tetrafluorenylporphyrin. Fluorescence lifetime measurements of the series of four compounds suggest that the trends can be interpreted in terms of the larger influence of fluorenyl over phenyl groups in increasing the fluorescence radiative rate constant of the porphyrin, kf.