Effect of viscosity and dielectric constant variation on fractional fluorescence quenching analysis of coumarin dye in binary solvent mixtures

Photo physical properties of fluorescent organic compounds give an immense improved knowledge on characteristics of excited state that is beneficial to devise innovate molecules and understand their performance in particular applications. Coumarin derivatives have been extensively investigated in this regard. This article narrates steady state fluorescence quenching measurements of a coumarin derivative namely 3-hydroxy-3-[2-oxo-2-(3-oxo-3H-benzo[f]chromen-2-yl)-ethyl]-1,3-dihydro-indol-2-one (3HBCD) in a binary mixture of acetonitrile and 1,4-dioxane. Aniline is used as quencher. Fluorescence intensity is large in acetonitrile and decreases as the percentage of 1,4-dioxane in the solvent mixture increases. With modest quencher concentration a deviation towards the x axis is noticed in the Stern-Volmer (S-V) plots. This downward curvature is interpreted as due to the presence of 3HBCD in different conformers in the lowest energy level. Ground state intramolecular hydrogen bonding formation is observed due to the conformational changes in the solute. Figured estimations of various quenching parameters recommend that, while dynamic quenching prompts linearity in S-V plot at lower quencher concentration, increasing quenching efficiency with increasing medium viscosity suggests that reaction is not entirely controlled by material diffusion. Stern-Volmer constant increases with decreasing medium dielectric constant.