Perturbation of planarity as the possible mechanism of solvent-dependent variations of fluorescence quantum yield in 2-aryl-3-hydroxychromones.

In order to understand the unexpectedly low quantum yields of 3-hydroxyflavones (3-HFs) in certain solvents, such as acetonitrile or ethyl acetate, the comparative study of solvent-dependent properties of parent 3-HF, 2-furyl-3-hydroxychromone and 2-benzofuryl-3-hydroxychromone derivatives have been performed. The results suggest that the formation of intermolecular hydrogen bond of 3-hydroxy group with the solvent favors non-planar conformations of phenyl group with respect to chromone system. This steric hindrance is not observed in the case of furan- and benzofuran-substituted 3-hydroxychromones (3-HCs). These results suggesting a new strategy for dramatic improvement of fluorescence properties of 3-HCs as two-wavelength ratiometric fluorescence probes.