Intramolecular energy transfer in naphthalene-containing polyesters: Experiment and simulation for model compounds derived from five aliphatic dicarboxylic acids and 2-hydroxynaphthalene

Steady-state fluorescence depolarization measurements and molecular dynamics simulations have been used to study the efficiency of nonradiative intramolecular singlet energy transfer between 2-naphthoxy groups, denoted N, in model compounds for polyesters derived from 2,6-dihydroxy-naphthalene and aliphatic dicarboxylic acids. The five bichromophoric compounds studied are the diesters abbreviated as N-OOC-(CH₂)_n-COO-N;n = 2–6, which are condensation products obtained from 2-naphthol and aliphatic dicarboxylic acids. The anisotropy of the fluorescence of these compounds dispersed in a solid matrix of glassy poly(methyl methacrylate) indicates that there is nonradiative singlet energy transfer between naphthoxy groups. The efficiency of this transfer depends onn. A theoretical treatment using molecular dynamics simulations for the conformations of the five model compounds has been performed in order to evaluate the parameters related to the efficiency of the transfer. The experimental and theoretical variation of such parameters withn is consistent with the estimated Förster radius of 9–10 Å for this system.