Experimental evidence of dual emission in a negatively solvatochromic push-pull pyridinium derivative

We report here experimental evidence of dual emission in a cationic push–pull system (bearing a methyl pyridinium group as an electron acceptor and a diphenylamino group as an electron donor), which shows negative solvatochromism. An intriguing blue shift and enlargement of the fluorescence band upon increasing the solvent polarity have suggested a possible contribution of an upper excited state to the stationary emission. Ultrafast transient absorption has indeed revealed the presence of an intermediate transient species in some solvents. The investigation of the fluorescence properties at low temperatures and in the rigid matrix has given a clear indication of this additional emission at shorter wavelengths. Femtosecond up-conversion measurements have shown interesting rise-decay dynamics in the kinetics and two well distinguished emission bands characterized by different deactivations. A single isoemissive point in the time-resolved area-normalized spectra has unambiguously pointed out the presence of two consecutive emissive species: the locally excited and the intramolecular charge transfer excited states.