Porphyrin arrays connected with molecular wire

One-dimensional phosphorus(V) porphyrin arrays, P(V) porphyrin arrays, connected with various lengths of either conducting or insulating molecular wire toward the axial direction or the lateral direction of the porphyrin ring were synthesized. In the porphyrin arrays connected with conducting wires, the P(V) porphyrin unit tending to be an electron acceptor acted as a photoinduced hole generator, and the conducting wire, the oligothienyl moiety, tending to be an electron donor was able to transfer the positive hole just as molecular electric wire. The conductivity of these donor-acceptor polymers was strongly enhanced by the photoirradiation, indicating that the photoinduced carrier formation and transfer occur efficiently along the polymeric chain, which suggests an effective photoswitching. On the other hand, in one-dimensional P(V) porphyrin arrays connected with insulating wire, the photoexcited state was localized in an inner porphyrin moiety, which suggests a photo-information storage. A combination of these P(V) porphyrin array structures leads to a photocontrolling high-speed information transduction and an artificial photo neuron.