The synthesis and study of fluorescent PAMAM-based dendritic molecules

New water soluble and fluorescent PAMAM-based dendritic molecules based on the naphthalimide derivative 7H-benz[de]benzimidazo[2,1-a]isoquinoline-7-one as the fluorescent unit, have been prepared and their photophysical properties studied in aqueous solution over a wide pH range. The dendrons are all strongly fluorescent through an intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) excited state, but this can be modulated by photoinduced electron transfer (PeT) processes, which increases with higher PAMAM dendron generation.