Coumarin 6

Technical Specifications

Product Description & Scientific Applications

Green-Emitting Laser Dye and Fluorophore Reference. Coumarin 6 is a benchmark green-emitting laser dye and microenvironment-sensitive fluorophore, providing tunable laser emission across approximately 500–585 nm depending on pump source (flashlamp, nitrogen laser, XeCl excimer at 308 nm, third-harmonic Nd:YAG at 355 nm, or cw argon-ion at 488 nm) and solvent. Its high fluorescence quantum yield in ethanol (ΦF ≈ 0.78), strong visible absorption, and well-characterised excited-state behaviour support use as a quantum-yield benchmark for green-emitting dyes and as a fluorescence lifetime reference in time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM), where its decay in ethanol is approximately 2.4–2.5 ns. The dye has intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) character, and its absorption and emission positions are sensitive to solvent polarity, supporting use in solvatochromism, microenvironment-polarity, and excited-state dipole-moment studies.

Fluorescent Probe for Cell Imaging and Drug-Delivery Research. In biological fluorescence research, Coumarin 6 partitions readily into lipid membranes and intracellular hydrophobic compartments, where its bright green fluorescence under blue-light excitation supports use as a lipophilic fluorescent probe in confocal and wide-field microscopy. The dye is widely employed in nanoparticle and polymeric-carrier research as a hydrophobic fluorescent payload for tracking carrier uptake, intracellular fate, and tissue distribution by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry, with PLGA nanoparticles, liposomes, emulsions, and solid lipid nanoparticles among the common carrier systems. Because Coumarin 6 is physically entrapped rather than covalently linked in many formulations, dye leakage, carrier-to-membrane transfer, and lipid-environment partitioning must be considered when interpreting uptake and biodistribution data.

Emitter and Dopant in Organic Optoelectronics. Coumarin 6 is a standard small-molecule green emitter used as a guest dopant in organic light-emitting devices and organic solid-state laser cavities. In Alq3 (tris-8-hydroxyquinolinato aluminium) host matrices, the dye gives bright green electroluminescence through host-to-guest energy transfer and serves as a model emitter in studies of solid-state fluorescence, aggregation-induced quenching, and emission tuning by the local matrix environment. Coumarin 6 has also been incorporated into fluorescent polymer films, optical sensors, and photonic structures, where its compatibility with organic host matrices supports both vapour-deposited and solution-processed thin-film fabrication.

Micellar, FRET, and Microenvironment-Sensitive Fluorescence Studies. Coumarin 6 is weakly fluorescent in neat water because aggregation and microcrystal formation suppress emission, but its fluorescence is restored in micellar and hydrophobic microenvironments. This behaviour makes the dye useful for studying solubilisation, membrane-like compartments, dye aggregation, and resonance-energy-transfer systems, with reported micellar systems showing efficient energy transfer from Coumarin 6 to rhodamine acceptors.

Shipping Destinations

• EU & UK: Priority delivery, 2–5 business days.
• United States (DDP): 3–7 business days, duties and taxes prepaid.
• EFTA Countries (DDP): 3–7 business days, duties and taxes prepaid.
• Worldwide: 7–14 business days, selected locations.