Electronic and Nuclear Coherence in Dinuclear Pt(II) Complexes

The Castellano Group is involved with molecular design of two types of platinum (II) dimers as part of a collaboration with Argonne National Laboratories, the Schatz Group at Northwestern, and the Li Group at the University of Washington. The first type of platinum (II) dimer the Castellano Group synthesizes employ tunable electronic coupling between the subunits, which are prepared to analyze the impact of structure on intramolecular electronic coherence. The second type of dimer contains electron-accepting moieties used to study the role of electronic coherence in excited state energy transfer. The aim of the collaboration is to better understand the electronic and nuclear response to light absorption in the femtosecond time regime, which could ultimately allow for manipulation of excited state dynamics for use in solar energy conversion.