The electronic coupling for triplet energy transfer is calculated by time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) for a set of tri-chromophoric systems based on a zinc(II) porphyrin donor and the corresponding free base acceptor covalently connected by different hydrocarbon bridging chromophores. The calculated electronic coupling, for systems with identical donor acceptor distances, is sensitive to the bridge electronic structure and shows a significant dependence for the bridge and donor-bridge conformations. The computational results compare quantitatively to measurements of triplet energy transfer rates in the corresponding donor-bridge-acceptor systems. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.