Thereafter, a series of ion-controlled coordination/decoordination experiments were carried out to investigate the switchable fullerene recognition ability of molecular tweezer
C-ZnPP. As mentioned above, the significant fluorescence quenching phenomenon occurred when excessive C
60 added into the toluene solution of
C-ZnPP. As shown in
Fig. 3a, following the introduction of 0−5 equiv. H
2PO
4− (tetrabutylammonium salt) to a toluene solution of
C-ZnPP/70.0 equiv. C
60 mixture, it was found that the quenched fluorescence emission of
C-ZnPP by C
60 was reasonably restored. It is inferred that Zn cation, which coordinated with the 2,2′-bipyridine components of
C-ZnPP, was gradually competitively replaced by H
2PO
4−, and
C-ZnPP was transformed to
T-ZnPP bearing
anti-conformation accompany with the binding ability to C
60 restraining. Therefore, the fluorescence emission intensity of the mixture solution was recovered. When 5 equiv. of H
2PO
4− was added, the emission intensity was able to return to its original state and kept the stated steady as up to 10 equiv. of H
2PO
4− was introduced (Fig. S24 in Supporting information). Moreover, the C
60 recognition on−off behaviors of
C-ZnPP were further monitored by
1H NMR spectroscopy in toluene-
d8 (
Fig. 4a). Upfield shifts (∆
δ = 0.051 ppm) of the signals corresponding to the
β protons of porphyrin units of
C-ZnPP⊃C
60 complex by virtue of shielding effect which compared to free
C-ZnPP indicated that
π–
π stacking interactions between
C-ZnPP and C
60. When adding H
2PO
4− to the
C-ZnPP⊃C
60 complex solution, it was found that signals for
β protons suffered downfield shifts (∆
δ = 0.046 ppm) and came back to the same position as the
C-ZnPP itself, within error, due to the structural transformations of the molecular tweezer from
syn to
anti conformation.
13C NMR spectroscopy is also very practical for disclosing the details of fullerenes complexation, since C
60 has a unique signal. Obvious upfield shifts (∆
δ = 0.15 ppm) of the signals ascribing to C
60 belonging to
C-ZnPP⊃C
60 complex were found compared to free C
60 because of ring current effects of porphyrins (
Fig. 4b). Thus, the upfield shift should be the evidence for effective complexation between
C-ZnPP and C
60 [
24,
37]. Subsequently, upon the addition of H
2PO
4− to
C-ZnPP⊃C
60 complex solution, signals of C
60 moved to downfield and returned to the free C
60 state due to interactions between
C-ZnPP and C
60 diminishing. In general,
1H and
13C NMR spectroscopy results were consistent with the switchable ion-controlled fullerene recognition process as assumed and in line with the conclusion obtained by UV−vis and fluorescence spectroscopy experiments.