TY - JOUR A1 - Descalzo, Ana B. A1 - Ashokkumar, Pichandi A1 - Shen, Z. A1 - Rurack, Knut T1 - On the Aggregation Behaviour and Spectroscopic Properties of Alkylated and Annelated BoronDipyrromethene (BODIPY) Dyes in Aqueous Solution N2 - The tendency of boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) dyes to associate in water is well known, and usually a cause for inferior fluorescence properties. Synthetic efforts to chemically improve BODIPYs’ water solubility and minimize this problem have been numerous in the past. However, a deeper understanding of the phenomena responsible for fluorescence quenching is still required. Commonly, the spectroscopic behaviour in aqueous media has been attributed to aggregate or excimer formation, with such works often centring on a single BODIPY family. Herein, we provide an integrating discussion including very diverse types of BODIPY dyes. Our studies revealed that even subtle structural changes can distinctly affect the association behaviour of the fluorophores in water, involving different photophysical processes. The palette of behaviour found ranges from unperturbed emission, to the formation of H or J aggregates and excimers, to the involvement of tightly bound, preformed excimers. These results are a first step to a more generalized understanding of spectroscopic properties vs. structure, facilitating future molecular design of BODIPYs, especially as probes for biological applications. KW - Aggregates KW - BODIPY KW - Excimers KW - Fluorescence KW - Photophysics PY - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-497771 SN - 2367-0932 VL - 4 IS - 2 SP - 120 EP - 131 PB - WILEY-VCH CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-49777 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -