Pressure effect on the nonradiative process of thioflavin-T

Time-resolved emission techniques were employed to study the nonradiative process of thioflavin-T (ThT) in 1-propanol, 1-butanol, and 1-pentanol as a function of the hydrostatic pressure. Elevated hydrostatic pressure increases the alcohol viscosity, which in turn strongly influences the nonradiative rate of ThT. A diamond-anvil cell was used to increase the pressure up to 2.4 GPa. We found that the nonradiative rate constant, k_nr, decreases with pressure. We further found a remarkable linear correlation between a decrease in k_nr (increase in the nonradiative lifetime, T_nr) and an increase in the solvent viscosity. The viscosity was varied by a factor of 1000 and k_nr was measured at high pressures, at which the nonradiative rate constant of the molecules decreased from (7 ps)^-1 to (13 ns)^-1, (13 ps)^-1 to (17 ns)^-1 and (17 ps) ^-1 to (15 ns)^-1 for 1-propanol, 1-butanol, and 1-pentanol, respectively. The viscosity-dependence of k_nr is explained by the excited-state rotation rate of the two-ring systems, with respect to each other.