Photophysical investigations on non-covalently linked fullerene/tetraarylporphyrin supramolecular complexes

The host–guest interactions of various tetraarylporphyrins (TP), viz., 5,10,15,20-tetraphenyl-21H,23H-porphyrin (1), 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(octadecyloxyphenyl)-21H,23H-porphyrin (2) and 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(dodecyloxyphenyl)-21H,23H-porphyrin (3) with C60 and C70 have been studied by 1H NMR, UV–vis and fluorescence spectroscopic techniques in toluene medium. All the fullerene/porphyrin complexes are found to be stable with 1:1 stoichiometry. Binding constants (K) of all the fullerene/porphyrin complexes have been determined by fluorescence quenching experiment. The trend in K values revealed that the presence of long chain n-alkyl group in tetraarylporphyrin effectively and remarkably increases the selectivity ratio of C70 over C60. Theoretical calculations have extended a good support in interpreting the stability difference between various fullerene/TP complexes.