were recorded on a Bruker Advanced Supercon 300 MHz NMR spectrophotometer
using tetramethylsilane as the internal standard. Steady-state UV–vis
absorption profiles were recorded on a Hitachi U-3501 spectrophotometer.
Steady-state emission and excited-state decay profiles were recorded
on PerkinElmer LS-55 and Horiba Jobin Yvon FluoroCube-01-NL, respectively.
Mass spectrometry was carried out in a Waters Xevo G2-S Q TOF mass
spectrometer. Pyrene-1-aldehyde and (4-dimethylamino)cinnamaldehyde
were obtained from commercial sources and used as received. Solvents
used were of spectroscopic grade. During steady-state absorption and
emission measurements, the concentration of the probe was maintained
at a micromolar range to avoid aggregation, reabsorption, or self-quenching.
All data were recorded at room temperature. The excited-state lifetime
measurements were carried out by exciting the sample using a picosecond
laser diode of 375 nm. The signals were obtained by setting the emission
polarizer at magic angle (54.7°) to prevent anisotropy, and the
decays were deconvoluted using DAS6 software. The goodness of fitting
was judged using χ2 criteria. The average lifetime
was calculated using standard procedures.45 (link) The quantum yield values were calculated using Coumarin 153 as the
standard.46 (link)