Dendrimers Functionalized with a Single Fluorescent Dansyl Group Attached “Off Center”: Synthesis and Photophysical Studies

Abstract

A series of three new fluorescent dendrimers containing a single, focally located dansyl group and 3 (1), 9 (2), and 27 (3) carboxylic acid groups in their peripheries were synthesized and characterized. The photophysical properties of these dendrimers were investigated in aqueous solution. The host−guest interactions of the dendrimers through their dansyl subunits with β-cyclodextrin and polyclonal anti-dansyl antibodies were also investigated by various methods. Photophysical measurements on the dendrimers demonstrate that the dansyl residue is progressively shielded from the solvent as the dendrimer generation increases, resulting in marked changes in spectral features, fluorescence quantum yields, excited-state fluorescence lifetimes, radiative and nonradiative decay rates, and rotational reorientation times. The excited-state intensity decay kinetics for 1−3 are well described by a single exponential. Contrary to the popularly held belief that lower generation dendrimers are “floppy” species in solut...