The use of naphthalene fluorescence probes to study the binding sites on cyclodextrin polymers formed from reaction of cyclodextrin monomers with epichlorohydrin

Three naphthalene-based fluorescence probes were used as guest molecules to study host/guest binding with cyclodextrin (CD) polymer hosts prepared by treating α-, β-, or γ-cyclodextrin monomers with epichlorohydrin. The fluorescence data indicate that the binding interaction is much stronger for the probes with the CD polymers than with the CD monomers. Moreover, the fluorophore binding site on the CD polymers is also more hydrophobic than that on the CD monomers. Fluorescence lifetime data from one of the bound probes (2-(N-methylanilino) naphthalene-6-sulfonic acid) suggest that more than one type of binding site may exist on the CD polymers with this probe. A comparison of fluorescence data using different molecular weight ranges of the CD polymers appear to rule out the possibility of a 1:2 host/guest complex, where the two CD units come from the same polymer chain. © 1994 Kluwer Academic Publishers