Supramolecular Porous Organic Nanocomposites for Heterogeneous Photocatalysis of a Sulfur Mustard Simulant

Efficient heterogeneous photosensitizing materials require both large accessible surface areas and excitons of suitable energies and with well-defined spin structures. Confinement of the tetracationic cyclophane (ExBox⁴⁺) within a nonporous anionic polystyrene sulfonate (PSS) matrix leads to a surface area increase of up to 225 m² g⁻¹ in ExBox•PSS. Efficient intersystem crossing is achieved by combining the spin-orbit coupling associated to Br heavy atoms in 1,3,5,8-tetrabromopyrene (TBP), and the photoinduced electron transfer in a TBP⊂ExBox⁴⁺ supramolecular dyad. The TBP⊂ExBox⁴⁺ complex displays a charge transfer band at 450 nm and an exciplex emission at 520 nm, indicating the formation of new mixed-electronic states. The lowest triplet state (T₁, 1.89 eV) is localized on the TBP and is close in energy with the charge separated state (CT, 2.14 eV). The homogeneous and heterogeneous photocatalytic activities of the TBP⊂ExBox⁴⁺, for the elimination of a sulfur mustard simulant, has proved to be significantly more efficient than TBP and ExBox⁺⁴, confirming the importance of the newly formed excited-state manifold in TBP⊂ExBox⁴⁺ for the population of the low-lying T₁ state. The high stability, facile preparation, and high performance of the TBP⊂ExBox•PSS nanocomposites augur well for the future development of new supramolecular heterogeneous photosensitizers using host–guest chemistry.