by alternating UV and visible light irradiations in the presence
of spiropyran. It would be interesting to see whether the metal
ion-promoted electron transfer can occur to TTF-A dyads with
electron acceptor units showing different redox potentials, and
examine the influence of the electron-accepting abilities on the
metal ion-promoted electron transfer processes. For these
purposes, substituted TTF-quinone dyads 1, 2, 3, 4, and 56
(Scheme 1), whose quinone units exhibit different electron-
accepting behaviors, were synthesized and their electron transfer
properties were investigated in the presence of metal ions. The
TTF and quinone units are linked by the oligoethylene glycol
chain.7,8 Substituted quinones 12, 13, 14, and 15 (Scheme 1)
were synthesized and dyad 5 was also included for comparison.
The synthesis of substituted TTF-quinone dyads 1, 2, 3, and
4 started from compound 6. After reaction with p-toluenesulfo-
nyl chloride in the presence of triethylamine, compound 6 was
transformed into compound 7 in 86% yield, which was further
reacted with potassium thioacetate to make compound 8.
Reduction of compound 8 with LiAlH4 yielded compound 9,
New Substituted Tetrathiafulvalene-Quinone
Dyads: The Influences of Electron Accepting
Abilities of Quinone Units on the Metal
Ion-Promoted Electron-Transfer Processes
Hui Wu,†,‡ Deqing Zhang,*,† Guanxin Zhang,† and
Daoben Zhu*,†
Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences,
Organic Solids Laboratory, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, and Graduate School
of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China
ReceiVed March 14, 2008
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2001, 40, 1372–1409, and further references cited therein. (d) Farren, C.;
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The metal ion-promoted electron transfer occurs to all new
dyads 1, 2, 3, and 4, even one of them, dyad 4, which has a
rather weak electron acceptor unit. The results also indicate
that the metal ion-promoted electron transfer within the dyads
is influenced by the electron accepting abilities of quinone
units; dyad 2 with the strongest electron acceptor among the
four dyads shows the strongest absorption and ESR signals
attributed to TTF·+ in the presence of metal ions.
Tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) and its derivatives are strong
electron donors (D). Various electron acceptors (A) have been
connected to TTF to afford electron donor-acceptor (D-A)
dyads or triads for investigations of charge-transfer interactions
and building molecular level devices, such as molecular
rectifiers1 and molecular switches.2 For instance, a new redox
fluorescence switch and some chemical sensors based on the
TTF-anthracene dyad were reported;3 the excited property of
anthracene within the TTF-anthracene dyad can be tuned by
assembly on the surfaces of gold nanoparticles.4 D-A dyads
with TTF and perylene diimide analogues were synthesized and
their fluorescence intensities varied with the oxidation states of
TTF units.5
(3) (a) Zhang, G.; Zhang, D.; Guo, X.; Zhu, D. Org. Lett. 2004, 6, 1209–
1212. (b) Li, X.; Zhang, G.; Ma, H.; Zhang, D.; Li, J.; Zhu, D. J. Am. Chem.
Soc. 2004, 126, 11543–11548. (c) Zhang, G.; Li, X.; Ma, H.; Zhang, D.; Li, J.;
Zhu, D. Chem. Commun. 2004, 2072–2073. (d) Feng, M.; Guo, X.; Lin, X.; He,
X.; Ji, W.; Du, S.; Zhang, D.; Zhu, D.; Gao, H. J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127,
15338–15339. (e) Lu, H.; Xu, W.; Zhang, D.; Chen, C.; Zhu, D. Org. Lett. 2005,
7, 4629–4632. (f) Zhang, G.; Zhang, D.; Zhou, Y.; Zhu, D. J. Org. Chem. 2006,
71, 3970–3972. (g) Wen, G.; Zhang, D.; Huang, Y.; Zhao, R.; Zhu, L.; Shuai,
Z.; Zhu, D. J. Org. Chem. 2007, 72, 6247–6250.
(4) Zhang, G.; Zhang, D.; Zhao, X.; Ai, X.; Zhang, J.; Zhu, D. Chem. Eur.
J. 2006, 12, 1067–1073.
(5) (a) Guo, X.; Zhang, D.; Zhang, H.; Fan, Q.; Xu, W.; Ai, X.; Fan, L.;
Zhu, D. Tetrahedron 2003, 59, 4843–4850. (b) Leroy-Lhez, S.; Baffreau, J.;
Perrin, L.; Levillain, E.; Allain, M.; Blesa, M.-J.; Hudhomme, P. J. Org. Chem.
2005, 70, 6313–6320. (c) Zheng, X.; Zhang, D.; Zhu, D. Tetrahedron Lett. 2006,
47, 9083–9087. (d) Guo, X.; Gan, Z.; Luo, H.; Araki, Y.; Zhang, D.; Zhu, D.;
Ito, O. J. Phys. Chem. A 2003, 107, 9747–9753.
We have recently reported a TTF-trichloroquinone dyad
linked by an oligoethylene glycol chain.6 For this D-A dyad,
the metal ion-promoted electron transfer was observed and
moreover the electron transfer process can be reversibly tuned
(6) Wu, H.; Zhang, D.; Su, L.; Ohkubo, K.; Zhang, C.; Yin, S.; Mao, L.;
Shuai, Z.; Fukuzumi, S.; Zhu, D. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 6839–6846.
(7) For other examples of TTF-quinone systems, see: (a) Dumur, F.; Gautier,
N.; Gallego-Planas, N.; Sahin, Y.; Levillain, E.; Mercier, N.; Hudhomme, P.;
Masino, M.; Girlando, A.; Lloveras, V.; Vidal-Gancedo, J.; Veciana, J.; Rovira,
C. J. Org. Chem. 2004, 69, 2164–2177, and further references therein. (b) Scheib,
S.; Cava, M. P.; Baldwin, J. W.; Metzger, R. M. J. Org. Chem. 1998, 63, 1198–
1204.
† Chinese Academy of Sciences.
‡ Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Sciences.
10.1021/jo800581t CCC: $40.75
Published on Web 04/30/2008
2008 American Chemical Society
J. Org. Chem. 2008, 73, 4271–4274 4271