Fluorescence and solvatochromism of a merocyanine dye with a high quadratic polarizability in solutions and polymer films

The influence of medium polarity on the spectroscopic and photophysical properties of 2-[(2E,4E)-6-(1,3,3-trimethyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-2-indolyliden)-2,4-hexadienyliden]malononitrile (THDM) in solutions and polymer matrices is studied at room temperature and 77 K under conditions of steady-state and pulsed laser excitation. A large bathochromic shift of the absorption spectra observed upon an increase in the solvent polarity is caused by a strong increase of the dipole moment in the ground state (image) on going to an excited Franck–Condon state (image). Based on the solvatochromic data, the quadratic polarizability was calculated to be image, which is close to the experimentally determined value image. A strong narrowing of the fluorescence spectra in comparison with the absorption spectra at room temperature is observed upon an increase in the solvent polarity caused by a decrease in the bond length alternation parameter and by weakening of vibronic interactions in the singlet excited state. The mirror symmetry of the absorption and fluorescence spectra of THDM in ethanol at 77 K is explained by the increase of the electrostatic interactions between the solvent and merocyanine molecules. The dynamic fluorosolvatochromism of THDM in the picosecond range is caused by molecules reorientations of the polar environment occurring during a time period consistent with the dielectric relaxation time of these molecules.