Panchromatic Light-Absorbing [70]Fullerene-Perylene-BODIPY Triad with Cascade of Energy Transfer as an Efficient Singlet Oxygen Sensitizer

A panchromatic light-absorbing [70]fullerene-perylene-BODIPY triad (C(70)-P-B) was synthesized and applied as a heavy atom-free organic triplet photosensitizer for photooxidation. The photophysical processes were comprehensively investigated by the methods of steady-state spectroscopy, time-resolved spectroscopy, as well as theoretical calculations. C(70)-P-B shows a strong absorption ability from 300–620 nm. Efficient cascading intramolecular singlet-singlet energy transfer in C(70)-P-B was confirmed by the luminescence study. The backward triplet excited state energy transfer from C(70) moiety to perylene then occurs to populate (3)perylene*. Thus, the triplet excited states of C(70)-P-B are distributed on both C(70) and perylene moiety with lifetimes of 23 ± 1 μs and 175 ± 17 μs, respectively. C(70)-P-B exhibits excellent photooxidation capacity, and its yield of singlet oxygen reaches 0.82. The photooxidation rate constant of C(70)-P-B is 3.70 times that of C(70)-Boc and 1.58 times that of MB, respectively. The results in this paper are useful for designing efficient heavy atom-free organic triplet photosensitizers for practical application in photovoltaics, photodynamic therapy, etc.