Styryl Bodipy-C60 Dyads as Efficient Heavy-Atom-Free Organic Triplet Photosensitizers

C-60-styryl Bodipy dyads that show strong absorption of visible light (epsilon = 64 600 M-1 cm(-1) at 657 nm) and a long-lived triplet excited state (tau(T)=123.2 mu s) are prepared. The dyads were used as heavy-atom-free organic triplet photosensitizers for photooxidation of 1,5-dihydroxynaphthalene via the photosensitizing of singlet oxygen (O-1(2)). The photooxidation efficiency of the dyads compared to the conventional Ir(III) complex O-1(2) photosensitizer increased 19-fold.