Solvent polarity and temperature effect on the photophysical properties of two 1,2-benzopyrone dyes, namely,
coumarin-152 (C152) and coumarin-481 (C481), have been investigated using steady-state and time-resolved
fluorescence measurements. In nonpolar (NP) solvents (e.g., hexane, cyclohexane, methylcyclohexane,
2-methylpentane, and 3-methylpentane), the Stokes' shifts (Δν̄) and fluorescence lifetimes (τf) for both the
dyes are unexpectedly lower. Excluding NP solvents, for all other solvents the Δν̄ correlates linearly with the
solvent polarity function, Δf = {(ε − 1)/(2ε + 1) − (n
2 − 1)/(2n
2 + 1)}, and the slopes of these plots
indicate that the fluorescent states for both the dyes in these solvents are of intramolecular charge transfer
(ICT) character. The unusually lower Δν̄ and τf values in NP solvents have been rationalized considering
nonpolar structures for the fluorescent states of the dyes in these solvents. The fluorescence quantum yields
(Φf) and τf values of the two dyes also show an unusual reduction in higher polarity solvents (Δf > ∼0.2).
Furthermore, unlike in all other solvents, in solvents with Δf > ∼0.2, the Φf and τf values are strongly
temperature-dependent. These results indicated the involvement of a new activation-controlled nonradiative
deexcitation channel in higher polarity solvents, assigned to the involvement of the nonfluorescent twisted
intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) state. Though the activation barrier (ΔE
a) for such processes usually
decreases with solvent polarity, for the present systems the ΔE
a is seen to increase with Δf. This unusual
behavior has been rationalized assuming that the ΔE
a arises because of the potential energy (PE) crossing of
the TICT and ground states rather than that of the ICT and TICT states as is usually the case for most TICT
molecules. On increasing Δf, since the highly polar TICT state not only gets better stabilization but also its
PE surface becomes more steeper than the ICT state, the ΔE
a effectively increases with solvent polarity.