Ultrastable Rhodamine with Cucurbituril

Abstract

Exceptionally stable aqueous dye solutions, resistant towards aggregation as well as unspecific adsorption to material surfaces, and with improved photostability, in particular at high levels of irradiation, are obtained when the supramolecular host cucurbit[7]uril (CB7) is added to a rhodamine 6G solution. Complexation by CB7 (see picture) increases the fluorescence lifetime because of the low polarizability inside the cucurbituril cavity.