New insight into photo-induced electron transfer with a simple ubiquinone-based triphenylamine model

Abstract

A ubiquinone-based triphenylamine compound (TPA-CoQ₀) was synthesized as a simple model to study photo-induced electron transfer (PET), where the redox processes of ubiquinone could switch the off/on fluorescent of TPA-CoQ₀/TPA-H₂CoQ₀ via controlling the reversible PET processes. The Density Functional Theory (DFT) studies indicated that the switched PET processes rely on the matched molecular orbitals of the TPA group and CoQ₀/H₂CoQ₀ moiety. This work provides a simple model to deeper understand the PET process and a guide for designing new PET-based molecules in the future.