# Both Benzannulation and Heteroatom-Controlled Photophysical Properties in Donor–π–Acceptor Ionic Dyes: A Combined Experimental and Theoretical Study

## TL;DR

This study explores how changing the structure of ionic dyes affects their light-related properties, combining experiments and theory to guide material design for optoelectronics and sensing.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a systematic approach to tune photophysical properties of D–π–A dyes through heteroatom variation and benzannulation.

## Key findings

- Replacing NMe with O or S in donor units causes hypsochromic shifts in absorption and emission.
- Benzannulation enhances charge transfer and red-shifts absorption without harming emission.
- TDDFT calculations confirm the role of electronic structures in observed photophysical behavior.

## Abstract

Donor–π–acceptor (D–π–A) dyes have garnered significant attention due to their unique optical properties and potential applications in various fields, including optoelectronics, chemical sensing and bioimaging. This study presents the design, synthesis, and comprehensive photophysical investigation of a series of ionic dyes incorporating five- and six-membered heterocyclic rings as electron-donating and electron-withdrawing units, respectively. The influence of the dye structure, i.e., (a) the systematically varied heteroatom (NMe, S and O) in donor moiety, (b) benzannulation of the acceptor part and (c) position of the donor vs. acceptor, on the photophysical properties was evaluated by steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopy across solvents of varying polarity. To probe solvatochromic behavior, the Reichardt parameters and the Catalán four-parameter scale, including polarizability (SP), dipolarity (SdP), acidity (SA) and basicity (SB) parameters, were applied. Emission dynamics were further analyzed through time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy employing multi-exponential decay models to accurately describe fluorescence lifetimes. Time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations supported the experimental findings by elucidating electronic structures, charge-transfer character, and dipole moments in the ground and excited states. The experimental results show the introduction of O or S instead of NMe causes substantial hypsochromic shifts in the absorption and emission bands. Benzannulation enhances the photoinduced charge transfer and causes red-shifted absorption spectra to be obtained without deteriorating the emission properties. Hence, by introducing an appropriate modification, it is possible to design materials with tunable photophysical properties for practical applications, e.g., in opto-electronics or sensing.