Spectral properties of ionic derivatives of pyrene and their aggregates with anionic surfactant and polyelectrolyte

Abstract

A multifunctional probe based on pyrene, the chloride of the 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-hydroxy-piperidinium ester of 4-(1-pyrene)butyric acid, at a concentration of 5 × 10−5 mol dm−3 exhibits excimer-like green emission with the maximum at 480 nm in the presence of sodium dodecylsulfate below its critical micelle concentration. A similar effect has been observed for this probe in the presence of the sodium salt of polyacrylic acid in the same concentration range. 1-Pyrenemethylammonium chloride exhibits a broad green excimer-like emission for sodium dodecylsulfate but not for the sodium salt of polyacrylic acid. The quenching constants of the monomeric and excimer-like emissions were determined for acrylamide, 1-oxo-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-hydroxypiperidine, potassium iodide, and copper(II) sulfate, representing neutral, ionic, and free-radical types of quenchers. The rate constants of quenching for N-oxyl radicals indicate that the monomeric emission from both water-soluble probes is diffusion controlled. For other types of quenchers the rate constant of bimolecular quenching is lower. The quenching of the excimer-like emission of an aggregate of the chloride of the 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-hydroxypiperidinium ester of 4-(1-pyrene)butyric acid is less efficient than in the case of 1-pyrenemethylammonium chloride, which indicates a more packed structure of the former aggregate. Keywords: pyrene, ionic derivative, emission, micelle, aggregation, quenching.