Polymer chain dynamics in solution probed with a fluorescence blob model.

This Account describes a new fluorescence tool that characterizes the chain dynamics of polymers in solution. This new tool, coined the fluorescence blob model (FBM), is employed to analyze the fluorescence decays of polymers randomly labeled with pyrene. The FBM yields the number of monomers making up a blob (Nblob) where a blob is the volume probed by an excited pyrene. By establishing a relationship between Nblob and the lifetime of pyrene used as an internal clock, the FBM provides previously unavailable information about polymer chain dynamics and opens new venues of research, which are described in this Account.