Single-wall carbon nanotubes covalently linked with zinc (II) phthalocyanine bearing poly (aryl benzyl ether) dendritic substituents: Synthesis, characterization and photoinduced electron transfer

• Synthesis a series of dendritic phthalocyanine-spacer linker-SWNTs nanoconjugates.
• Intramolecular electron transfer could occur from phthalocyanines to SWNTs.
• Electron transfer rate and efficacy increase with decreasing spacer linker length.

A novel series of dendritic phthalocyanine-single-wall carbon nanotube nanoconjugates, zinc (II) phthalocyanine bearing poly (aryl benzyl ether) dendritic substituents covalently linked with single-wall carbon nanotubes through either ethylenediamine or hexamethylenediamine as the spacer linker, were prepared. The structures and morphologies of the dendritic phthalocyanine-single-wall carbon nanotube nanoconjugates were characterized by IR, Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and thermal gravimetric analysis methods. The photophysical properties of the nanoconjugates were studied by steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. The intramolecular electron transfer occurred from phthalocyanine (donor) to the carbon nanotubes (acceptor) by a photoinduced process. The electron transfer exchange rate constant and the electron transfer efficacy between the dendritic phthalocyanine and single-wall carbon nanotubes increased with decreasing length of spacer linker. These novel nanoconjugates were fundamentally important due to the synergy effects of carbon nanotubes and dendritic zinc phthalocyanine, which may find potential application as biological labels.

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