Cucurbit[7]uril disrupts aggregate formation between rhodamine B dyes covalently attached to glass substrates.

Dye aggregation is detrimental to the performance of high optical density dye-doped photonic materials. To overcome this challenge, the ability of cucurbit[7]uril (CB7) as a molecular host to disrupt aggregate formation on glass substrates was examined. Rhodamine B was covalently attached to glass slides by initially coating the surface with azidohexylsiloxane followed by copper-catalyzed “click” triazole formation with rhodamine B propargyl ester. The absorption and emission spectra of rhodamine B coated slides in water indicated diverse heterogeneous properties as surface dye density varied. Fluorescence quenching due to dye aggregation was evident at high surface dye density. Addition of aqueous cucurbit[7]uril (CB7) to the surface-tethered dyes perturbed the spectra to reveal a considerable reduction in heterogeneity, which suggested that the presence of a surface in close proximity does not significantly impair CB7’s ability to complex with tethered rhodamine B.