The design and synthesis of a novel 1,8-naphthalimide PAMAM light-harvesting dendron with fluorescence “off-on” switching core

A novel polyamidoamine dendron core, peripherally functionalized with 1,8-naphthalimide fluorophores, was configured as a light harvesting antenna in which the system surface was labelled with blue emitting 4-allyloxy-1,8-naphthalimide “donor” dyes capable of both absorbing light and efficiently (96%) transferring the energy to a single, yellow-green emitting 4-N-methylpiperazinyl-1,8-naphthalimide “acceptor” dye. The 1,8-naphthalimide core was designed on the “fluorophore-spacer-receptor” format and was able to function as a fluorescence photoinduced electron transfer sensor. Two different photoinduced electron transfer effects were observed in the new antenna namely that from the receptor to the core fluorophore and that from the polyamidoamine backbone to the peripheral 1,8-naphthalimides. Althogh the core emission intensity of the system was enhanced > four times by reducing the pH from 10 to 2, the fluorescence enhancement of the system in acidic medium, excited within the periphery (λex = 360 nm), was approximately twice that of the core fluorescence enhancement after direct excitation of the focal 1,8-naphthalimide (λex = 420 nm), because of more efficient energy transfer. The observed “off-on” switching of the core fluorescence over a wid pH scale indicates that the novel light harvesting antenna would be able to act as a highly efficient fluorescent sensor.