Normal and second excimers in macromolecules—I: Poly(1-methoxy-4-vinylnaphthalene) in fluid solution

The emission properties of poly(1-methoxy-4-vinylnaphthalene) (PMVN) in 2-methyltetrahydrofuran solution have been investigated over the range 77–350 K. It exhibits, in addition to the monomer fluorescence (348 and 360 nm), two structureless emissions derived from two different types of excimer, viz. the normal excimer (420 nm) and the second excimer (380 nm), the latter having a partially overlapping structure of aromatic rings. The intensity of second excimer emission of PMVN increases with decreasing temperature, while the normal excimer emission shows a maximum at 215 K. Kinetic analysis of transient decay curves for the fluorescence of PMVN gave results consistent with the previously reported kinetic scheme for the dimer model, 1,3-bis(4-methoxy-1-naphthyl)propane, showing that the second excimer is not formed from or converted to the normal excimer and that two types of excimer are formed independently from the excited monomer.