The fluorescence of polyamidoamine dendrimers peripherally modified with 1,8-naphthalimide groups: Effect of the rare earth ions and protons

We report the absorption spectra, fluorescent spectra and photophysical properties of G 2.0 polyamidoamine dendrimers with peripheral 1,8-naphthalimide groups with the hydrogen ions, the rare earth ions (Er3+, Tb3+, Nb3+, Eu3+, Yb3+ and Gd3+) and the mixture of the rare earth metal and hydrogen ions. The presence of the rare earth ions and hydrogen ions was found to enhance the fluorescence owing to the coordination between the rare earth metal or hydrogen ions and internal amido groups of polyamidoamine (PAMAM) from dendrimer. The result from the 3D isogram of the fluorescence spectra for the dendrimers with peripheral 1,8-naphthalimide groups show that it was obtained for the different emission fluorescence intensity and scope by varying the excitation wavelength and the different rare earth ions as well as its concentration. The results obtained reveal that the capacities of these systems might have acted as a sensitive label agent of the rare earth cations and protons.