Femtosecond studies of solvation and intramolecular configurational dynamics of fluorophores in liquid solution

A comprehensive review of ultrafast studies of large-sized fluorophores in liquid solution performed in the past decade using the femtosecond fluorescence up-conversion technique is presented. Femtosecond transient absorption results relevant for better understanding of the up-conversion results of some of the chromophores are included. It is hoped that the review gives a perspective of how femtosecond fluorescence up-conversion experiments can be utilized to disentangle the contributions of intramolecular interactions on one hand and solvation dynamics on the other hand in excited-state relaxation of large molecules with great potential for applications in different fields.