Photophysics of host—guest inclusion compounds

Abstract

On the basis of a set of excitation decay functions developed recently (A. Guarino, Chem. Phys., 86 (1984) 445), this paper describes numerical calculations carried out both on models of host—guest inclusion compounds and on true host—guest inclusion compounds in order to assess the spreading of electronic excitation inside these compounds under γ or UV photonic irradiation. These calculations are correlated with the experimental behaviour of irradiated inclusion compounds. The influence of factors such as the anisotropy of the energy transfer process or the ratio of partially empty host cavities versus those filled by guest molecules has been investigated in detail. There is interest in these correlations because of the possibility of determining the feasibility of utilizing the regiospecific and stereospecific reactions which occur inside inclusion compounds, e.g. syntheses of ethylenic polymers useful as organic semiconductors, isomerization processes etc.