Citation: Guangping Sun, Menglian Hu, Lujie Wu, Danping Zhu, Weixuan Ji, Yan Sun, Menghang Li, Jinli Zhu, Yanfeng Tang, Yong Yao. Three-step cascade artificial light-harvesting system for photooxidation reaction based on cation-pillar[5]arene[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2026, 37(9): 112190. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2025.112190 shu

Three-step cascade artificial light-harvesting system for photooxidation reaction based on cation-pillar[5]arene

Guangping Sun ^{a, *,} ,
Menglian Hu ^a ,
Lujie Wu ^a ,
Danping Zhu ^a ,
Weixuan Ji ^a ,
Yan Sun ^a ,
Menghang Li ^a ,
Jinli Zhu ^a ,
Yanfeng Tang ^b ,
Yong Yao ^{a, *,}

a.
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nantong University, Nantong 226019, China
b.
Taizhou University, Taizhou 225300, China

sunguangping1989@ntu.edu.cn

yaoyong1986@ntu.edu.cn

Received Date: 13 September 2025
Revised Date: 15 November 2025
Accepted Date: 26 November 2025
Available Online: 27 November 2025

Figures(5)

A three-step cascade artificial light-harvesting system was constructed by the supramolecular assembly of cation-pillar[5]arene (CP5), tetraphenylethene-sulfonate (TPESF), 4,7-di(2-thienyl)-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (DBT), sulforhodamine 101 (SR101) and chlorin e6 (Ce6). Inspired by the aggregate state in nanoparticles, CP5-TPESF nanoparticles emitted significant blue fluorescence as FRET donors because of TPESF's AIE effect. Due to the donor emission overlapping the acceptors' absorption, a three-step sequential energy transfer process was successfully constructed in CP5-TPESF-DBT-SR101-Ce6 nanoparticles, which achieved the significant energy transfer efficiency of 87% and antenna effect of 30.8. Benefitting to three-step cascade light-harvesting process and energy transfer to Ce6, Ce6^* was excited to release ¹O₂ in CP5-TPESF-DBT-SR101-Ce6 nanoparticles, which was used as efficient photooxidation catalyst to realize the photooxidation reaction of 4-(methylthio)toluene to 4-(methylsulfinyl)toluene. Notably, the photooxidation yield of CP5-TPESF-DBT-SR101-Ce6 LHS was significantly improved to 89%, suggesting potential in converting solar energy to chemical energy storage.
- Self-assembly,
- Three-step energy transfer,
- Artificial light-harvesting,
- Photooxidation reaction,
- Cation-pillar[5]arene
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沈阳化工大学材料科学与工程学院沈阳 110142