The solvent-dependent photophysics of two 4-amino-substituted 1,8-naphthalene imides (AIs) were studied using fluorescence spectroscopy and laser flash photolysis. The compounds were functionalized with water-soluble 2,2'(ethylenedioxy) diethylamine groups, yielding a monomer (AI3) and a dimer (AI4). The radiative and nonradiative singlet-state deactivation processes of AI3 and AI4 were quantified in 10 solvents and at different pH values. The fluorescence quantum yield for the AI4 dimer in water was more than 100× lower than in other solvents, or for the monomeric AI3. The enhanced nonradiative decay of aqueous solutions of dimeric AI4 is accompanied by biexponential decay kinetics, suggesting equilibration with a dark excited state. An oxygen-quenchable triplet state (T₁) of AI3 was produced upon 416 nm excitation in both water and n-octanol. In water, the T₁ state evolved into a long-lived transient that was unreactive toward oxygen or several electron donors. This species was not observed in n-octanol. The transient observed upon 416 nm excitation of AI4 in water was extremely weak. However, production of T₁ in both AI3 and AI4 was evidenced by the photoinduced electron transfer to methyl viologen, albeit in low quantum yield (0.0503 and 0.00778 for AI3 and AI4, respectively). The photophysics and reactivity are consistent with the production of an intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) state that is stabilized in water. Significantly, this stabilization enhances nonradiative decay pathways, particularly in the AI4 dimer. The results indicate that the photochemistry of these compounds can be environmentally mediated, switching from radical- to triplet-initiated processes.

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