For over a century, Lewis acids have been known to alter the <i>singlet</i> excited states of organic compounds, and, until recently, their impact on the <i>triplet </i>excited states was largely unexplored. Since the initial disclosure from our laboratory that a chiral Lewis acid complex lowers the triplet energy of 2’-hydroxychalcones, we have determined that this mode of triplet-triplet activation is general for Lewis basic substrates. Using Stern–Volmer kinetics, we have shown that the formation of Lewis acid–Lewis base complexes activates fluorescence quenching of transition metal photosensitizers. While the ability to catalyze energy transfer to these complexes is general, harnessing the reactivity of the triplet excited states is substrate dependent.

Exploring the scope of Lewis acid-catalyzed triplet energy transfer: [2+2] photocycloaddition and beyond

254th National Meeting (2017)

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