Synthesis and Characterization of Carbazole-Linked Porphyrin Tweezers

Herein the synthesis, spectroscopic characterization, two-photon absorption and electrochemical properties of 3,6-disubstituted carbazole tweezers is reported. A dimer resulting from a Glaser homocoupling was isolated during a Sonogashira coupling reaction between a diethynyl-carbazole spacer and a 5-bromo-triarylporphyrin and the properties of this original compound were compared with the 3,6-disubstituted carbazole bisporphyrin tweezers. The dyads reported herein present a two-photon absorption maximum at 920 nm with two-photon absorption cross-section in the 1200 GM range. Despite a strong linear absorption in the Soret region and moderate fluorescence quantum yield, they both lead to a high brightness reaching 30 000 M(-1)  cm(-1) .