Fluorescence measurements were used to explore the effect of solvent-i
nduced polymer coil collapse on electronic energy transport for both m
ethacrylate and methacrylic acid copolymers with pendant phenanthrene
chromophores. Changes in the quantum yield and efficiency of excitatio
n transport show that the efficiency of electronic energy transport to
a covalently bound anthracene trap increases with coil contraction, a
lthough this increase is part of a complex chain of events in which ph
enanthrene-phenanthrene self-quenching plays an important role even th
ough classical excimer formation is negligible. Room temperature solut
ion and 77 K matrices display qualitatively similar behavior. Measurem
ents for polymethacrylic acid-co/alt-poly(vinylphenanthrene) polymers
in aqueous solution at room temperature and at 77 K illustrate analogo
us behavior as a function of pH.