Themed collection Papers celebrating the birthday and achievements of Professor Michael Wasielewski

We show via time resolved spectroscopy that triplet formation proceeds via intersystem crossing in a rigid-bridged perylene diimide trimer and via efficient and fast intramolecular singlet exciton fission in the analogous flexible-bridged trimer.

Incorporation of proquinoidal BTD building blocks into conjugated porphyrin oligomers minimizes the extent of excited-state structural relaxation relative to the ground-state conformation, elucidating new classes of impressive NIR fluorophores.

Confocal microscopy is showcased as a powerful technique for the measurement of spatiotemporally-resolved magnetic field effects in both solutions and single crystals.

Ring fusion and conjugated bridge length dependent exciton dynamics and electronic coupling in a series of perylenediimide dimers with acceptor–donor–acceptor arrangement are investigated by ultrafast optical spectroscopy and TDDFT calculations.

Functional electron transfer between the [Fe₄S₄] cluster and the nucleic acid is impacted by a Y345C mutation in the p58c subunit of human primase.

Time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (TREPR) spectroscopy has been used to study the proton coupled electron transfer (PCET) reaction between a Ruthenium complex (Ru(bpz)(bpy)₂) and several substituted hydroquinones (HQ).

Many fundamental questions remain in the elucidation of energy migration mechanisms across the interface between semiconductor nanomaterials and molecular chromophores.

Time-resolved spectroscopic measurements of ground-state recovery for [Fe(bpy)₃]²⁺ reveal that the solvent can induce an outer-sphere reorganization energy effect on excited-state dynamics involving metal-centered ligand-field electronic states.

Experimental and theoretical methods characterize the thermodynamics of electrochemically driven proton-coupled electron transfer processes in bioinspired constructs involving multiple proton translocations over Grotthus-type proton wires.

Electrostatic ion pairs provide a general method to study excited-state proton-coupled electron transfer. A PT_aET_b mechanism is identified for the ES-PCET oxidation of salicylate within photoexcited cationic ruthenium–salicylate ion pairs.

Singlet fission (SF) is expected to exceed the Shockley–Queisser theoretical limit of efficiency of organic solar cells.

Two complementary measurements, fluorescence polarization anisotropy and aggregation-induced emission, allow for in situ optical monitoring of polymerization reaction progress in droplets across varying temporal regimes of the reaction.

The cause of a large shift in open-circuit voltage induced by a minor difference in end-alkyl groups of p-type small molecules is examined via X-ray diffraction and computation, revealing a critical impact of molecular packing.

A high-valent nickel(III) compound performs fast concerted proton–electron transfer on O–H and C–H bonds. Thermodynamic analysis suggests that the oxidizing power of the compound and the formation of a strong ligand O–H bond lead to high reactivity.

An increasing activation energy barrier to a conical intersection was identified as the reason for higher fluorescence lifetimes and quantum yields for merocyanines in polar solvents.

Highly twisted quasi-aza[8]circulene and planar triazaoxa[8]circulene have been prepared, which exhibited intriguing optical properties.

We report the stereoisomerism and physicochemical properties of two novel electron donor–acceptor conjugates based on subphthalocyanines decorated at their peripheral, or peripheral/axial positions with multiple tetracyanobutadiene–aniline moieties.