Some novel Y-shaped imidazole derivatives were developed for highly sensitive chemisensors for transition metal ions. A prominent fluorescence enhancement was found in the presence of transition metal ions such as Hg2+, Pb2+ and Cu2+ and it is due to the suppression of radiationless transitions from the n-pi* state in the chemisensors. The HOMO-LUMO energies, electric dipole moment (mu) and the first-hyperpolarizability (beta) values of the investigated molecule have been studied theoretically which reveal that the synthesized molecules have microscopic non-linear optical (NLO) behaviour with non-zero values. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Kamlet-Taft and Catalan Studies of Some Novel Y-Shaped Imidazole Derivatives
Some novel Y-shaped imidazole derivatives were developed and characterized by NMR and mass spectral techniques. The photophysical properties of these imidazole derivatives were studied in several solvents. The Kamlet-Taft and Catalan’s solvent scales were found to be the most suitable for describing the solvatochromic shifts of the absorption and fluorescence emission. The adjusted coefficient representing the electron releasing ability or basicity of the solvent, C β or C SB has a negative value, suggesting that the absorption and fluorescence bands shift to lower energies with the increasing electron-donating ability of the solvent. This effect can be interpreted in terms of the stabilization of the resonance structures of the chromophore. The observed lower fluorescence quantum yield may be due to an increase in the non-radiative deactivation rate constant. This is attributed to the loss of planarity in the excited state provided by the non co-planarity of the cinnamaldehyde ring attached to C(2) atom of the imidazole ring. Such a geometrical change in the excited state leads to an important Stokes shift, reducing the reabsorption and reemission effects in the detected emission in highly concentrated solutions.