Porphyrinoid–Fullerene Hybrids as Candidates in Artificial Photosynthetic Schemes

Abstract

Natural photosynthesis inspired the scientific community to design and synthesize molecular assemblies that possess advanced light-harvesting and electron-transfer features. In this review, we present the preparation and the photophysical investigation of novel porphyrin−fullerene hybrids acting as artificial photosynthetic systems. Porphyrinoids stand as chlorophyll analogues and have emerged as suitable photosensitizers in supramolecular electron donor−acceptor hybrids. Fullerenes (C60) are versatile electron acceptors with small reorganization energy and low reduction potentials. The novel derivatives presented herein mimic the fundamental features of the photosynthetic reaction center, namely, light harvesting, charge separation, and charge transport. To this end, a comprehensive analysis on these key processes that occur in various porphyrin−fullerene entities is illustrated in this work.

Keywords

• fullerene
• C₆₀
• porphyrin
• artificial photosynthesis
• electron transfer
• energy transfer