Abstract

A β-cyclodextrin labeled with seven naphthoyloxy chromophores was studied by steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy in order to get information on the dynamics of energy hopping between chromophores. The steady-state fluorescence anisotropy was recorded as a function of excitation wavelength in a mixture of methanol and ethanol at 110 K (rigid glass). The fluorescence anisotropy decay was obtained under the same conditions by the multifrequency phase-modulation technique upon excitation at 290 nm. The data were analyzed and interpreted on the basis of a theoretical model involving a unique rate constant for energy hopping between nearest neighbors. In particular, this model predicts a long-time leveling-off of the emission anisotropy at 1/7th of the fundamental anisotropy, which is confirmed by both steady-state and time-resolved data and thus indicates that there is no preferred mutual orientation between the chromophores. As regards the rate of energy hopping, an average value of 2 × 109 s-1 can be deduced from the comparison between the theoretical and experimental decays. This value is shown to be consistent with a dipole−dipole mechanism of energy transfer.

Highlights

  • Excitation energy hopping between chromophores is an important process occurring in the antennae pigments of photosynthetic units[1] and in antenna-based photomolecular devices.[2]

  • In the first two papers of this series,[3,4] we focused our attention on the photophysical properties of various -cyclodextrins labeled with 7 or 14 2-naphthoyloxy chromophores

  • The value of k is surprisingly in very good agreement with that estimated by Forster’s theory, despite the latter being a crude approximation because the distributions of distances and mutual orientations of the chromophores have not been taken into account

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Summary

Introduction

Excitation energy hopping between chromophores is an important process occurring in the antennae pigments of photosynthetic units[1] and in antenna-based photomolecular devices.[2] For the understanding of fundamental aspects of energy hopping, it is of interest to study supramolecular systems containing a limited number of chromophores that are well spatially defined In this respect, -cyclodextrins labeled with chromophores offer distinct advantages.[3,4,5] They are able to include species in their cavity, allowing to study the antenna effect, i.e., energy transfer from the antenna chromophores to an included acceptor.[6]. In a rigid glass, a decrease of energy transfer was observed upon red-edge excitation as a result of inhomogeneous broadening due to solvation heterogeneity; energy hopping was shown to be not chaotic but directed toward lower-energy chromophores

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