Ultrafast excited state dynamics of the bi- and termolecular stilbene-viologen charge-transfer complexes assembled via host-guest interactions

Excited state dynamics of the highly stable 1:1 and 2:1 charge-transfer (CT) complexes assembled via host–guest interactions between a biscrown stilbene and a viologen vinylog was studied using transient pump-supercontinuum probe spectroscopy. In acetonitrile, both complexes showed ultrafast two-component transient absorption dynamics after excitation in the CT absorption band by a 616 nm, 70 fs laser pulse. The faster component (τ<200 fs) is assigned to relaxation processes in the lowest CT excited state. The second component is due to the back electron transfer (ET) reaction leading to the ground state. The measured ET time constants for the 1:1 and 2:1 CT complexes are about 540 fs and 1.08 ps, respectively. Excitation of the bimolecular complex by a 308 nm laser pulse gave rise to three-component transient absorption dynamics. The fastest transient (τ∼150 fs) is assigned to relaxation processes in the high-lying excited states of the complex. The high-amplitude rise component with a time constant of about 300 fs is due to the internal conversion from the high-lying excited states to the lowest CT excited state. The latter decayed to the ground state via the back ET with a time constant very close to that measured when the complex was excited in the CT absorption band.