High magnetic fields were used for the alignment of J-aggregates of cyanine dyes in solution leading to strongly polarized optical properties, yielding a maximum dichroic ratio of 13. The aligned aggregates were fixed by gelation resulting in samples that are stable at room temperature and exhibit strongly polarized absorption and emission spectra.
We present a novel method for the determination of the internal structure of macromolecular aggregates in solution based on polarized absorption measurements on magnetically aligned aggregates. Different types of aggregates of three cyanine dyes were investigated in order to test the method. The obtained stacking geometries agree with those found by X-ray diffraction experiments on single crystals grown from the studied dyes, providing evidence that our method is a valuable tool for structural analysis of molecular assemblies.
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