Fluorescence from an azobenzene-containing diblock copolymer micelle in solution.

We report the observation of unusual fluorescence emission from an azobenzene-containing polymer micellar solution. An amphiphilic diblock copolymer composed of the hydrophilic quaternized poly(4-vinyl pyridine) (QP4VP) and a hydrophobic liquid crystalline polymethacrylate bearing azobenzene side groups (PAzoMA) is nonfluorescent in molecularly dissolved state in N,N-dimethyl formamide (DMF) but becomes fluorescent as a result of the micellization upon addition of water, which confines azobenzene groups into the core region of micellar aggregates. Experimental results suggest that the micellization-enhanced fluorescence was caused by a slowdown, due to the confinement effect, in the rate of the trans-to-cis photoisomerization that is the main nonradiative relaxation process for excited azobenzene groups in the trans form. Furthermore, it was found that the fluorescence intensity of aqueous micellar solution is sensitive to changes in pH (reversible fluorescence variation) and to illumination (irreversible fluorescence variation). The results indicate that a subtle change in the state of polymer micellar association may alter the confining state of azobenzene groups responsible for the fluorescence emission.