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A Saturn-Like Complex Composed of Macrocyclic Oligothiophene and C60 Fullerene: Structure, Stability, and
Hideyuki Shimizu1, Kyu Hyung Park2, Hiroyuki Otani3
1Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0397, Japan.
Abstract:
A Saturn-like 1:1 complex composed of macrocyclic oligothiophene E-8T7A and C60 fullerene (C60 ) was synthesized to investigate the interaction between macrocyclic oligothiophenes and C60 in solution and the solid state. Because the Saturn-like 1:1 complex E-8T7A⋅C60 is mainly stabilized by van der Waals interactions between C60 and the sulfur atoms of the E-8T7A macrocycle, C60 is rather weakly incorporated inside the macro-ring in solution. However, in the solid state the Saturn-like 1:1 complex preferentially formed single crystals or nanostructured polymorphs. Interestingly, X-ray analysis and theoretical calculations exhibited hindered rotation of C60 in the Saturn-like complex due to interactions between C60 and the sulfur atoms. Furthermore, the photoinduced charge transfer (CT) interaction between E-8T7A and C60 in solution was investigated by using femtosecond transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy. The ultrafast TA spectral changes in the photoinduced absorption bands were attributed to the CT process in the Saturn-like structure.
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