Effects of Photoinduced Electron Transfer on the Rational Design of Molecular Fluorescence Switch

Aiming at exploring the relationship between the spacer and fluorescence switch properties, we synthesized a series of new photoactive triads, in which one perylenetetracarboxylic diimide unit acting as the electron acceptor was attached to two ferrocene moieties through different spacers. This kind of donor−spacer−acceptor structure allows for tuning one of the key factors that governs photoinduced electron transfer, the distance between the electron donor and acceptor units. The excited-state electron-transfer processes were monitored by both steady-state and time-resolved emission as well as transient absorption techniques. It was found that fluorescence intensity of the solution of all triads 1−3 can be reversibly modulated by the electrochemical oxidation and reduction sequentially. More importantly, as the length of the spacer between the donor and acceptor increases, the background fluorescence increased proportionally, but the contrast ratio of the fluorescence decreases. Together these two factors determine the assay sensitivity, and therefore this work is helpful to provide a basis for the rational design of fluorescence switch by optimizing these factors above.