Interaction of 6-methoxyquinoline with anionic sodium dodecylsulfate micelles: Photophysics and rotational relaxation dynamics at different pH

•Photophysical properties of 6-methoxyquinoline have been monitored in micellar medium at different pH.•Polarity, viscosity, refractive index and ET(30) of the local environment estimated•Location of the 6-methoxyquinoline in the micellar media has been probed.•The local pH at micellar surfaces is different from the bulk pH of the solution.

Interactions of different species of 6-methoxyquinoline (6MQ) with anionic micelles have been studied at different pre-micellar, micellar and post-micellar concentrations using steady state, time resolved fluorescence and fluorescence anisotropy techniques. The sensitivity of fluorescence of 6MQ to change in its local environment was used to probe sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) micelles. At post-micellar concentrations of SDS, the observed blue shift in the fluorescence spectrum and increase in quantum yield are attributed to the incorporation of solute molecule to micelles. 6MQ has been found to bind to the surface of the anionic micelles instead of penetrating inside the core of micelles. The binding constant (Kb) calculated for 6MQ revealed that the electrostatic forces mediate charged probe–micelle association, whereas, hydrophobic interaction allowed neutral 6MQ to associate with SDS micelles. The charged 6MQ gets inserted deeper into the micelle surface than its neutral form. The fluorescence anisotropy decay of 6MQ in SDS micelles studied at different pH allowed determination of restriction of motion of the fluorophore. The location of the probe molecule in micellar systems is justified by a variety of spectral parameters such as refractive index, dielectric constant, ET(30), average fluorescence decay time, radiative and non-radiative rate constants, and rotational relaxation time. The micro-environment around the fluorophore reveals that the photophysics of 6MQ is very sensitive to the microenvironment of SDS and probe molecules reside at the water–micelle interface.

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