Role of intramolecular hydrogen bonds in promoting electron flow through amino acid and oligopeptide conjugates

Elucidating the factors that control charge transfer rates in relatively flexible conjugates is of importance for understanding energy flows in biology as well as assisting the design and construction of electronic devices. Here, we report ultrafast electron transfer (ET) and hole transfer (HT) between a corrole (Cor) donor linked to a perylene-diimide (PDI) acceptor by a tetrameric alanine (Ala)₄. Selective photoexcitation of the donor and acceptor triggers subpicosecond and picosecond ET and HT. Replacement of the (Ala)₄ linker with either a single alanine or phenylalanine does not substantially affect the ET and HT kinetics. We infer that electronic coupling in these reactions is not mediated by tetrapeptide backbone nor by direct donor–acceptor interactions. Employing a combination of NMR, circular dichroism, and computational studies, we show that intramolecular hydrogen bonding brings the donor and the acceptor into proximity in a “scorpion-shaped” molecular architecture, thereby accounting for the unusually high ET and HT rates. Photoinduced charge transfer relies on a (Cor)NH…O=C–NH…O=C(PDI) electronic-coupling pathway involving two pivotal hydrogen bonds and a central amide group as a mediator. Our work provides guidelines for construction of effective donor–acceptor assemblies linked by long flexible bridges as well as insights into structural motifs for mediating ET and HT in proteins.