Fabrication and spectroscopic properties of a metalloporphyrin-intercalated zirconium phosphate assembly

Abstract

A hybrid assembly of metalloporphyrin [zinc (tetra-(p-methylphenyl) porphyrin)] chromophores with modified zirconium phosphate layered framework was successfully fabricated by means of intercalation chemistry. The X-ray diffraction result demonstrates that the interlayer distance of the assembly is around 28.0–29.3 Å. The spectroscopic behavior of the assembly suspension is dramatically changed as compared with that of the metalloporphyrin aqueous solution. Under the excitation of 430 nm blue light, the emission spectra exhibit two main peaks in the red light region. One emission peak at about 615 nm has little shift after the metalloporphyrin is intercalated to the framework, whereas the other emission peak shows an obvious blue-shift, from 660 nm in aqueous solution to 647 nm in assembly suspension. The more remarkable observation is that both of the red-light emission peaks of the metalloporphyrin chromophore are strikingly enhanced after the formation of assembly, which is a welcome improvement for its potential application in biomimetic and optical fields.