Photophysical investigation of microenvironment in glycerol based dansylated polyether dendrons

Photophysical studies of four generations of polyglycerol dendrons with isopropylidene end groups and dansyl moiety as a fluorophore attached at the focal point were carried out. All the four generations showed similar behaviour in their absorption transitions but the emission maximum for all generations of dendrons showed strong dependence on the solvent polarity. The solvatochromic shift of emission maximum showed linearity in the Lippert–Mataga plot, indicating the dominant importance of general solvent effect in all generations of dendrons. Photophysical parameters such as fluorescence quantum yield, fluorescence lifetime and radiative decay rate constant showed solvent polarity dependence. The detailed photophysical study reveals that due to the increased influence of the repeating dendron units of the higher order dendrons on the dansyl microenvironment, it becomes less and less influenced by the solvent.