Excitation energy transfer in supramolecular assemblies of aqueous vesicles of 4-(5-dodecyloxynaphthalene-1-oxy) butyl trimethylammonium bromide

A single chain synthetic amphiphile, 4-(5-dodecyloxynaphthalene-1-oxy) butyl trimethylammonium bromide (C12Naph(1,5)C4N+), can be self-assembled into vesicles in the dilute aqueous solution and subsequently form excimer in the vesicles. The excitation energy transfer has been performed in the C12Naph(1,5)C4N+ aqueous vesicles. The donor, naphthalene group, was embedded in the interior of the vesicles. The acceptor, titan yellow, with two negatively charged polar groups, was bound electrostatically to the positively charged surface of vesicles. The energy transfer efficiency increased with the increase of the concentration of titan yellow acceptor in the range of 0–1.2 × 10−5 mol dm−3. Titan yellow quenched the fluorescence intensity of the naphthalene, which fitted a Stern–Volmer plot, and the Stern–Volmer quenching constant Ksv is 1.75 × 104 dm3 mol−1.