Effects of hydrogen bonding on metal ion-promoted intramolecular electron transfer and photoinduced electron transfer in a ferrocene-quinone dyad with a rigid amide spacer

J Am Chem Soc. 2003 Jan 29;125(4):1007-13. doi: 10.1021/ja026441v.

Abstract

A ferrocene-quinone dyad (Fc-Q) with a rigid amide spacer and Fc-(Me)Q dyad, in which the amide proton acting as a hydrogen-bonding acceptor is replaced by the methyl group, are employed to examine the effects of hydrogen bonding on both the thermal and the photoinduced electron-transfer reactions. The hydrogen bonding of the semiquinone radical anion with the amide proton in Fc-Q(.-) produced by the electron-transfer reduction of Fc-Q is indicated by the significant positive shift of the one-electron reduction potential of Fc-Q. The hyperfine coupling constants of Fc-Q(.-) also indicate the existence of hydrogen bonding, agreeing with those predicted by the density functional calculation. The hydrogen-bonding dynamics in the photoinduced electron transfer from the ferrocene (Fc) to the quinone moiety (Q) in Fc-Q have been successfully detected in the femtosecond laser flash photolysis experiments. Thermal intramolecular electron transfer from Fc to Q in Fc-Q and Fc-(Me)Q also occurs efficiently in the presence of metal ions in acetonitrile at 298 K. The hydrogen bond formed between the semiquinone radical anion and the amide proton in Fc-Q results in remarkable acceleration of the rate of metal ion-promoted electron transfer as compared to the rate of Fc-(Me)Q in which hydrogen bonding is prohibited. The metal ion-promoted electron-transfer rates are well correlated with the binding energies of superoxide ion-metal ion complexes, which are derived from the g(zz) values of the ESR spectra.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amides / chemistry*
  • Electrons
  • Ferrous Compounds / chemistry*
  • Hydrogen Bonding
  • Metallocenes
  • Photochemistry
  • Quinones / chemistry*

Substances

  • Amides
  • Ferrous Compounds
  • Metallocenes
  • Quinones
  • ferrocene