Viscosity dependent radiationless relaxation rate of cyanine dyes. A picosecond laser spectroscopy study

The viscosity dependent radiationless relaxation of several cyanine dyes has been studied by picosecond laser spectroscopy. It was found that the relaxation rate is proportional to η^?α. The value of α, however, is not constant for a certain dye molecule, but is strongly dependent on the kind of solvent used. In n-alcohols for instance α is typically about 1. In glycerol/methanol or glycerol/water mixtures on the other hand α ≈ 0.5. A comparison is made with literature data on orientational relaxation lifetimes of some dyes in similar solvents. It is shown that the radiationless relaxation of cyanine dyes and the orientational relaxation of for instance xanthene dyes changes in roughly the same way as the solvent is changed. This is taken as proof of the proposal that a torsional motion of the heterocyclic quinolyl rings is the main course of the viscosity dependent relaxation of the cyanine dyes studied.