A molecular donor-acceptor dyad comprising a hexarhenium cluster core, [Re₆(μ₃-Se)₈]²⁺, and a fullerene moiety which are covalently linked through a pyridine ligand was synthesized and fully characterized. The electrochemical and photophysical properties are reported. The detailed study includes cyclic voltammetry, steady-state absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy, radiation chemistry and transient absorption spectroscopy. A light-induced electron transfer between the inorganic cluster moiety and the fullerene can be excluded. However, a light-induced energy transfer from the rhenium cluster to the fullerene is proposed.

Two new ethynylbipyridine-linked mono- and bis-tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) derivatives, together with a Ru(II) complex, were synthesized using Sonogashira coupling reactions and characterized by UV/vis spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. They display a clear electrochemically amphoteric behavior consisting of two reversible single-electron oxidation waves (typical for TTF derivatives) and one reversible single-electron reduction wave (bpy) and act as donor–acceptor (D–A) systems. Furthermore, for the Ru(II) complex, a quite intense fluorescence originating from the ³MLCT state is observed.

A new 1,3-dithiol-2-ylidene substituted naphthopyranone 2 has been synthesized and characterized. UV–vis spectroscopic and cyclic voltammetry results, interpreted on the basis of density functional theory, show that 2 displays an intramolecular charge-transfer transition and acts like a donor–acceptor (D–A) system. Furthermore, a weak fluorescence originating from the excited charge-transfer state is observed.