Somnath Koley

Probe Dependent Solvation Dynamics Study in a Microscopically Immiscible Dimethyl Sulfoxide-Glycerol Binary Solvent.

Excited state dipole solvation of three coumarin dyes with different hydrophobicities was studied in DMSO-glycerol binary solvent. The solvation times obtained from the three dyes are remarkably different. The highly hydrophilic dye coumarin 343 (C343) exhibits the slowest solvation time (>12 ns) among all the dyes we used. This is in contrast to the most hydrophobic dye coumarin 153 (C153), where the solvated state is reached just within ∼104 ps. However, the moderately hydrophobic dye coumarin 480 (C480) demonstrates an intermediate (∼396 ps) solvation time. Unprecedented slowdown of solvation time of C343 is probably due to the slow diffusion of solvent molecules in the glycerol-rich first solvation shell followed by hydrogen bond rearrangements around the solute dipole. On the other hand, fast solvation of hydrophobic dye C153 is most likely caused by the fast reorganization dynamics of hydrophobic -CH3 groups of DMSO or the carbon backbone of the glycerol molecule around the solute dipole. Interestingly, a remarkable probe dependency in solvation dynamics was not observed in the case of DMSO-water binary solvent or in a neat solvent isopropanol. Probe dependent solvation in a DMSO-glycerol mixture is attributed to the microscopic phase segregation and different locations of coumarin dyes within this binary solvent.

The study of electron transfer reactions in a dendrimeric assembly: proper utilization of dendrimer fluorescence

The PAMAM dendrimer with a cage like structure acts as an excellent electron donor in the presence of an electron deficient molecule. Electron transfer (ET) causes significant quenching of dendrimer fluorescence. Trapping of quencher molecules within the dendrimer cage helps ET to take place through an expeditious route. Utilization of intrinsic fluorescence and sensing applications of dendrimers have been established here.

Study of Microheterogeneity in Acetonitrile-Water Binary Mixtures by using Polarity-Resolved Solvation Dynamics.

The solvation dynamics of three coumarin dyes with widely varying polarities were studied in acetonitrile-water (ACN-H2O) mixtures across the entire composition range. At low ACN concentrations [ACN mole fractions (X(ACN))≤0.1], the solvation dynamics are fast (<40 ps), indicating a nearly homogeneous environment. This fast region is followed by a sudden retardation of the average solvation time (230-1120 ps) at higher ACN concentrations (X(ACN)≈0.2), thus indicating the onset of nonideality within the mixture that continues until X(ACN)≈0.8. This nonideality regime (X(ACN)≈0.2-0.8) comprises of multiple dye-dependent anomalous regions. At very high ACN concentrations (X(ACN)≈0.8-1), the ACN-H2O mixtures regain homogeneity, with faster solvation times. The source of the inherent nonideality of the ACN-H2O mixtures is a subject of debate. However, a careful examination of the widths of time-resolved emission spectra shows that the origin of the slow dynamics may be due to the diffusion of polar solvent molecules into the first solvation shell of the excited coumarin dipole.

A deeper insight into an intriguing acetonitrile–water binary mixture: synergistic effect, dynamic Stokes shift, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, and NMR studies

An insight study reveals the strong synergistic solvation behaviours from reporter dye molecules within the acetonitrile (ACN)-water (WT) binary mixture. Synergism of a binary mixture refers to some unique changes of the physical and thermodynamic properties of the solvent mixture, originating from the interactions among its cosolvents, which are absent within the pure cosolvents. Synergistic solvation of a binary mixture is likely to be fundamental for greater stabilization of an excited state solute dipole; at least to some extent greater as compared to one stabilized by any of its cosolvents alone. A dynamic Stokes shift due to the solvation of an excited dipole in the ACN-WT binary mixture is found to be highly relevant to the ground state physical properties of the solute molecule (polarity, hydrophilicity, acidity, etc.). Largely different solvation times in the ACN-WT mixture are observed from different dye molecules with widely varying polarities. However, earlier study shows that dye molecules, irrespective of their varying polarities, exhibit very similar solvation times within a pure solvent (J. Phys. Chem. B, 2014, 118, 7577-7785). On further study with fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) we observed that, unlike the translational diffusion coefficient (Dt) of a dye molecule within a pure solvent, which remains the same irrespective of the location of the dye molecule inside the solvent, a broad distribution among the Dt values of a dye molecule is obtained from different locations within the ACN-WT binary mixture. Lastly our 1H NMR study in the ACN-WT binary mixture shows the existence of strong hydrogen bond interactions among the cosolvents in the ACN-WT mixture.

Spectroscopic and Calorimetric Studies of Molecular Recognitions in a Dendrimer–Surfactant Complex

Molecular recognitions, causing supramolecular complex formation between a hyperbranched polymer molecule (polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer generation 3) with oppositely charged surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in aqueous solution, were studied by using various spectroscopic techniques and calorimetric titration of heat change measurements. Spectroscopic measurements were performed using dynamic Stokes shift (DSS), rotational anisotropy decay, and translational diffusion of a fluorescent probe molecule coumarin 153 (C153) noncovalently attached to the dendrimer-surfactant complex. All these studies unanimously confirm that the critical aggregation concentration (CAC) of SDS falls to ∼0.8 mM (from its critical micelle concentration (CMC) ∼ 8 mM) in the presence of ∼0.2 mM dendrimer. Further studies of isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) measurement show that the CAC of SDS in the presence of dendrimer remains invariant to the dendrimer concentration. Complexation reaction between SDS and dendrimer is highly exothermic in nature. A maximum heat release (ΔH∼ -6.6 kJ/mol of SDS binding) was observed at a SDS-to-dendrimer mole ratio of ∼3-5; where up to 3 to 5 SDS molecules were encapsulated by one dendrimer molecule to form dendrimer-SDS encapsulation complex. When negatively charged SDS was replaced with a positively charged surfactant dodecyl-trimethylammonium-bromide (DTAB), we found that the DTAB hardly interacted with positively charged dendrimer due to the charge-charge repulsions.

Encapsulation and Residency of a Hydrophobic Dye within the Water-Filled Interior of a PAMAM Dendrimer Molecule

Tightly confined water within a small droplet behaves differently from bulk water. This notion is obtained on the basis of several reports showing unusual behaviors of water droplet residing at the core of a reverse micelle. In this study, we have shown a well-known hydrophobic dye, coumarin 153 (C153), which prefers to reside at the water-rich region inside the dendrimer molecule. Optical density (OD) measurement at the absorption peak of C153 shows that it is almost insoluble in bulk water but highly soluble in aqueous dendrimer solution. The OD of C153 increases several times in the latter case as compared to that in the former. We found the most interesting observation when we compared the data from fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) with the fluorescence anisotropy decay of C153 in aqueous dendrimer solution. The FCS measurement reveals a much slower translational diffusion time (τD) of C153 attached to a dendrimer molecule as compared to that of free C153 in bulk water in the absence of dendrimer. The slower τD in the former case is commensurate with the size of the dendrimer molecule. This is possible only when C153 is encapsulated by the dendrimer molecule. In contrast to the FCS study, the fluorescence anisotropy decay of C153 in water remains largely invariant after addition of the dendrimer. This can happen if a bulk-water-like environment at the C153 surroundings is preserved within the C153-dendrimer complex. This supports our institutive expectation that C153 resides within the water-rich peripheral cavities of the dendrimer molecule. A more expected binding of C153 to the hydrophobic core of dendrimer may not be possible here because of an inadequate size of the dendrimer core.