Dual fluorescence of 2-methoxyanthracene derivatives

The time-resolved emission properties of selected anthracene derivatives, namely anthracene (1a), 2-methylanthracene (1b), 2-chloroanthracene (1c), 2-methoxyanthracene (1d), 2-methoxy-6-methylanthracene (1e), 2-(N,N'-dicyclohexylureidocarbonyl)-6-methoxyanthrace ne (1f), 2-(6-methoxyanthr-2-yl)-4,4-dimethyl-2-oxazoline (1g), 2-(6-methoxyanthr-2-yl)-pyridine (1h), and N-cyclohexylanthracene-2-carboxamide (1i) were investigated. In contrast to anthracene (1a), 1b, and 1c, the 2-methoxy-substituted anthracene derivatives 1d-1h exhibit two emission lifetimes. The determination of the lifetimes at different emission wavelengths and additional time-resolved emission spectroscopy (TRES) reveal that the dual emission originates from two different, interconvertible emissive species, with the s-cis and s-trans conformation relative to the exocyclic C2-O bond. The energy difference between the two emissive species is very small (<0.1 eV) both in the ground and in the excited state. The larger energy difference between the conformers in the excited-state is responsible for the interconversion within the singlet excited-state lifetimes of the s-cis into the s-trans conformations leading to coupled decay kinetics. The proposed mechanism for the dual emission was qualitatively supported by theoretical studies on CASSCF and DFT level. In addition, the emission lifetimes of the fluoride- and pH-sensitive fluorescent probes 1f and 1g change upon addition of fluoride or acid, respectively, so that in these cases the detection of the fluorescence lifetime may be used complementary to the steady-state fluorimetric detection of these analytes.