Experiments on Ultra on a new transition metal complex of possible importance for our understanding of artificial photosynthesis feature on the front cover of the journal Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. The research was carried out by teams from Sheffield University, the CLF and Belarus.

The experimental work, led by Dr. Igor Sazanovich, focused on the ultrafast photoinduced charge transport in a novel Pt(II) complex. Study of such ultrafast processes in transition-metal complexes lies at the basis of much research in artificial photosynthesis or photocatalysis. For this particular complex it was found that upon excitation using visible light two distinct isomers in the excited state are formed that decay back to the ground state with different life times. The quantum chemical calculations, carried out by the Meijer group at Sheffield, clarified the nature of these two different excited isomers, thereby confirming the different life times of the isomers.

Ultrafast photoinduced charge transport in Pt(II) donor–acceptor assembly bearing naphthalimide electron acceptor and phenothiazine electron donor (link opens in a new window)
Igor V. Sazanovich, Jonathan Best, Paul A. Scattergood, Michael Towrie, Sergei A. Tikhomirov, Oleg V. Bouganov, Anthony J. H. M. Meijer and Julia A. Weinstein
Phys Chem Chem Phys 16 25775 (2014).