Photophysical properties of DASPMI as revealed by spectrally resolved fluorescence decays.

Photophysical properties of 2-(4-(dimethylamino)styryl)-1-methylpyridinium iodide (DASPMI) in various solvents were investigated using time- and space-correlated single photon counting. DASPMI is known to selectively stain mitochondria in living cells.1,2 The uptake and fluorescence intensity of DASPMI in mitochondria is a dynamic measure of membrane potential. Hence, an endeavor has been made to elucidate the mechanism of DASPMI fluorescence by obtaining spectrally resolved fluorescence decays in different solvents. A biexponential decay model was sufficient to globally describe the wavelength-dependent fluorescence in ethanol and chloroform. While in glycerol, a three-exponential decay model was necessary for global analysis. In the polar low-viscous solvent water, a monoexponential decay model fitted the decay data. The sensitivity of DASPMI to solvent viscosity was analyzed using various proportions of glycerol-ethanol mixtures. The lifetimes were found to increase with increasing solvent viscosity. The negative amplitudes of the short lifetime component found in chloroform and glycerol at the longer wavelengths validated the formation of new excited-state species from the initially excited state. Time-resolved emission spectra in chloroform and glycerol showed a biphasic increase of spectral width and emission maxima. The spectral width had an initial fast increase within 150 ps and a near constant thereafter. A three-state model of generalized scheme, on the basis of successive formation of locally excited state (LE), intramolecular charge transfer state (ICT), and twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) state, has been proposed to explain the excited-state kinetics. The presumed role of solvation dynamics of ICT and TICT states leading to the asymmetrical broadening and structureless fluorescence has been substantiated by the decomposition of time-resolved emission spectra in chloroform, glycerol, and ethanol/glycerol mixtures.