Porphyrin–fullerene photosynthetic model systems with rotaxane and catenane architectures

Routes for the synthesis of a series of [2]rotaxanes and [2]catenanes incorporating porphyrin, ferrocene and fullerene moieties by the Sauvage metal template technique are described. Photophysical studies on these materials show that excitation of the porphyrin component causes a series of events along an energy gradient leading to long-lived long distance charge-separated radical pair states with lifetimes as long as 32 μs in tetrahydrofuran solution at ambient temperatures. To cite this article: D.I. Schuster et al., C. R. Chimie 9 (2006).