Intermolecular electron transfer in merocyanine aggregates studied by optical and transient EPR methods

Excited states of two merocyanine chromophores have been studied by means of optical and magnetic resonance techniques. The dye molecules were dissolved in solvents of different polarity and cast in thin films on quartz surfaces. The optical absorption and emission spectra of both molecules indicate a little charge-transfer character in the S-0-S-1 transition. The cast films contain monomers and H type aggregates. EPR spectra have been obtained by time resolved techniques at low temperature after illumination of the sample. EPR spectra of isolated molecules in frozen solutions are typical of triplet excited states generated by spin-orbit promoted intersystem crossing. Two signals are observed in EPR spectra of the cast films, with a narrow line in emission superimposed on a very weak molecular triplet lineshape. The polarization and lineshape analysis suggest that a radical ion pair with a lifetime of the order of microseconds is formed by intermolecular charge migration following the photoinduced electron-transfer reaction between the donor and acceptor moieties of the chromophore.