The effect of protonation on the excited state dynamics of pyrimidine chromophores

•The protonation effect on the excited state dynamics is investigated.•Two pyrimidine chromophores, bearing the A-(π-D)2 and A-(π-D)3 structure, are used.•Time resolved fluorescence spectroscopy (fs and ns) is employed.•Protonation using three different acids, CSA, TFA and AcOH is studied.•The dynamics of the neutral chromophores become faster upon protonation with AcOH. The effect of protonation on the photophysics and especially on the excited state dynamics of two pyrimidine chromophores, bearing the A-(π-D)2 and A-(π-D)3 structure, is studied by means of fs-ps and ns time resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. Three different acids, namely camphorsulphonic (CSA), acetic (AcOH) and trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) were used. The chromophores bear the pyrimidine electron deficient heterocycle as electron-withdrawing group, used as protonation site, as well as diphenylamino electron donors. Protonation is revealed through the emergence of red-shifted absorption and fluorescence bands accompanied by a quenching of the fluorescence of the neutral molecules. Time-resolved dynamics reveal that protonation with CSA and TFA do not influence the excited state lifetime of the chromophores, pointing to a static quenching process. On the other hand, the lifetime is decreased upon protonation with AcOH. Further investigation based on the Stern-Volmer plots showed that addition of AcOH leads to both dynamic and static quenching.