Dye induced quenching of firefly luciferase-luciferin bioluminescence

The quenching of firefly bioluminescence (BL) in presence of xanthene dyes and tetratolylporphyrin was investigated. The BL intensity was quenched with an altered decay pattern in presence of xanthene dyes and tetratolylporphyrin. The electronic absorption spectra indicate that there is no significant interaction occurring between the dyes and the BL components in the ground state. The BL quenching decay rate and fluorescence quenching studies of luciferin by the dyes suggest an energy transfer through an exciplex, involving oxyluciferin, in the excited state and the dyes, in the ground state. The bimolecular quenching rate constant (K(q)) values obtained from fluorescence studies varied between 7.7 x 10(12) and 19.8 x 10(12)M(-1)s(-1). The magnitude of the bimolecular quenching rate constants confirmed the complex formation between dye and excited oxyluciferin. The exciplex subsequently undergoes a non-radiative decay to the ground state via a combination of heavy atom induced and F?rster-type energy transfer. The decay rate constants in presence and in absence of dyes vary between 7.47 x 10(-4) and 7.6 x 10(-2)s(-1). In the presence of dyes the effective decay rate constants (k(eff)) increased while the lifetime of light emitting species decreased. The kinetic studies in presence of singlet oxygen scavengers, like beta-carotene and NaN(3), prove that there is no significant quenching of the firefly BL due to the formation of singlet oxygen.     

Photoinduced electron transfer between various coumarin analogues and N,N-dimethylaniline inside niosome, a nonionic innocuous polyethylene glycol-based surfactant assembly

Photoinduced electron transfer (ET) reactions between coumarin dyes and N,N-dimethylaniline have been investigated inside niosome, a nonionic innocuous polyethylene glycol (PEG)-based surfactant assembly using steady state and time-resolved fluorescence measurements. The location of coumarin dyes inside the bilayer headgroup region of niosome has been reported and it was verified by determination of the high distribution coefficient of all the dyes inside niosome compared to bulk water. Fluorescence anisotropy parameters of the dyes inside niosome are also in good correlation with the above inference about their location. Bimolecular diffusion guided rates inside niosome were determined by comparing the microviscosities inside niosome and in acetonitrile and butanol solutions and it was found that diffusion of the donor and the acceptor is much slower than the ET rates, implying insignificant role of reactant diffusion in ET reaction inside niosome. We have observed a Marcus inversion region in our restricted media, which shows maxima at lower exergonicity. Such behavior has been demonstrated by the presence of nonequilibrium solvent excited state using two dimensional ET (2DET) theory. Unusually high quenching rates of two coumarins C-152 and C-152A inside niosome were explained by the presence of a stable non-fluorescent twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) state along with an emissive intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) state. Moreover, intermolecular hydrogen bonding between carbonyl oxygens of these two dyes and water in their non-emissive and emissive charge transfer states also plays a key role in their dynamical exchange with each other [G.-J. Zhao and K.-L. Han, Acc. Chem. Res., 2011].     

Regression Analysis of Rate Parameters for the Photoinduced Electron Transfer Reaction

The dependence of the rate constant for the quenching of the triplet state of xanthene dyes by cyanide complexes of transition metals on the free energy change of the photoinduced electron transfer reaction is correlational, rather than functional, in character. Experimentally, it was proved that there is no spin forbiddance in the photoinduced electron transfer reaction between these reactants. For the photoreactions with reactants in which dyes are electron acceptors, the values of the intrinsic barrier of electron transfer and the pre-exponential factor of the reaction rate constant were determined. A method for the determination of calculation errors for these values was proposed.     

Radiationless decay in exciplexes with variable charge transfer

Rate constants for radiative decay, radiationless decay, and intersystem crossing are reported for a series of excited states formed by reaction of cyanoanthracene acceptors with alkylbenzenes as donors in several solvents of moderate to low polarity. The excited states have widely varying degrees of charge transfer, from essentially pure electron transfer states to pure locally excited states. The data illustrate the fundamental factors that control the contrasting relative efficiencies of radiative and radiationless processes in electron transfer compared to locally excited states. The radiationless decay rate constants can be described quantitatively as a function of the extent of charge transfer using weighted contributions from a locally excited decay mechanism and a pure electron-transfer type mechanism. The factors that control the rate constants for radiationless decay in excited states with intermediate charge-transfer character are discussed.     

QUENCHING OF OXONINE EXCITED STATES BY EDTA VIA ELECTRON TRANSFER AND DEACTIVATION PROCESSES. A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF EXCITED SINGLET AND TRIPLET STATE REACTIVITY

The quenching of excited singlet oxonine by EDTA in aqueous solution leads mainly to deactivation of the dye to the ground state and, to a lesser extent, to electron abstraction. The rate constants for these processes have been measured and compared to those for the same reactions involving the oxonine triplet state. The rate constant of electron abstraction is about ten times greater via the singlet state than via the triplet state. However, the rate constant of deactivation to the ground state is 10³-10⁴ times greater for the excited singlet state than for the triplet state, so that the efficiency of electron transfer is much smaller for the singlet state.     

Intermolecular electron transfer between coumarin dyes and aromatic amines in Triton-X-100 micellar solutions: evidence for Marcus inverted region

Photoinduced electron transfer (ET) between coumarin dyes and aromatic amines has been investigated in Triton-X-100 micellar solutions and the results have been compared with those observed earlier in homogeneous medium. Significant static quenching of the coumarin fluorescence due to the presence of high concentration of amines around the coumarin fluorophore in the micelles has been observed in steady-state fluorescence studies. Time-resolved studies with nanosecond resolutions mostly show the dynamic part of the quenching for the excited coumarin dyes by the amine quenchers. A correlation of the quenching rate constants, estimated from the time-resolved measurements, with the free energy changes (DeltaG0) of the ET reactions shows the typical bell shaped curve as predicted by Marcus outer-sphere ET theory. The inversion in the ET rates for the present systems occurs at an exergonicity (-DeltaG0) of approximately 0.7-0.8 eV, which is unusually low considering the polarity of the Palisade layer of the micelles where the reactants reside. Present results have been rationalized on the basis of the two dimensional ET model assuming that the solvent relaxation in micellar media is much slower than the rate of the ET process. Detailed analysis of the experimental data shows that the diffusional model of the bimolecular quenching kinetics is not applicable for the ET reactions in the micellar solutions. In the present systems, the reactions can be better visualized as equivalent to intramolecular electron transfer processes, with statistical distribution of the donors and acceptors in the micelles. A low electron coupling (Vel) parameter is estimated from the correlation of the experimentally observed and the theoretically calculated ET rates, which indicates that the average donor--acceptor separation in the micellar ET reactions is substantially larger than for the donor--acceptor contact distance. Comparison of the Vel values in the micellar solution and in the donor--acceptor close contact suggests that there is an intervention of a surfactant chain between the interacting donor and acceptor in the micellar ET reaction.     

荧光素蒽醌甲酯分子内光诱导电子转移及电荷分离态的检测

合成了以荧光素为光敏剂的电子给体-受体二元化合物荧光素蒽醌甲酯(FL-AQ),用吸收光谱、荧光光谱、荧光寿命研究了该化合物在乙醇溶液中的光物理性质,并首次用纳秒级瞬态吸收光谱检测了此化合物分子内光诱导电子转移所形成的电荷分离态.在溶液中激发FL,电子可从FL有效地转移到AQ,其速率常数为3.95×10⁹s^-1,效率为95%.但由于电荷分离态寿命较短,瞬态吸收信号弱,若在此溶液中加入二氧化钛(TiO₂)纳米胶体,使FL-AQ吸附在胶体上,电荷分离态信号明显增强.480nm处FL^+·的寿命为11.1μs;560nm处AQ^-·的寿命为8.93μs.     

CHARGE TRANSFER COMPLEXES OF PHEOPHYTIN a WITH NITROAROMATICS. ELECTRON TRANSFER FROM EXCITED SINGLET OF PHEOPHYTIN a TO NITROAROMATICS

Abstract— The interaction of pheophytin a (Pheo) with seven nitroaromatic acceptors of varying ring sizes and electron acceptor abilities has been studied both in the ground and excited states. The ground state association constants ( K ) of the 1: 1 complexes of donor (Pheo) and acceptors were found to increase with increasing electron affinities of the different acceptors. All the nitroaromatic compounds efficiently quench the singlet emission of Pheo and the quenching follows the Stern-Volmer (SV) relationship. The SV constants ( K _sv) for different quenchers follow the same order as that of the K values. The reduction potential of Pheo₊/Pheo_* obtained from the quenching data agrees well with the theoretically predicted value. A charge transfer interaction between the singlet excited state of Pheo and the nitroaromatics is suggested from the dependence of quenching rate constants on the electron affinities of the acceptors.     

Photoinduced electron transfer reactions by SmI2 in THF: luminescence quenching studies and mechanistic investigations

Photoluminescence quenching studies of SmI2 in dry THF were carried out in the presence of five different classes of compounds: ketone, alkyl chloride, nitrile, alkene and imine. The free energy change (DeltaG0) of the photoinduced electron transfer (PET) reactions was calculated from the redox potentials of the donor (SmI2) and acceptors. The bimolecular quenching constants (k(q)) derived from the Stern-Volmer experiments parallel the free energy changes of the PET processes. The observed quenching constants were compared with the theoretically derived electron transfer rate constants (k(et)) from Marcus theory and found to be in good agreement when a value of lambda = 167 kJ mol(-1) (40 kcal mol(-1)) was used for the reorganization energy of the system. A careful comparison of the excited state dynamics of SmII in the solid state to the results obtained in solution (THF) provides new insight in to the excited states of SmII in THF. The activation parameters determined for the PET reactions in SmI2/1-chlorobutane system are consistent with a less ordered transition state and high degree of bond reorganization in the activated complex compared to similar ground state reactions. Irradiation studies clearly show that SmI2 acts as a better reductant in the excited state and provides an alternative pathway for rate enhancement in known and novel functional group reductions.     

Bonded exciplexes. A new concept in photochemical reactions

Charge-transfer quenching of the singlet excited states of cyanoaromatic electron acceptors by pyridine is characterized by a driving force dependence that resembles those of conventional electron-transfer reactions, except that a plot of the log of the quenching rate constants versus the free energy of electron transfer is displaced toward the endothermic region by 0.5-0.8 eV. Specifically, the reactions with pyridine display rapid quenching when conventional electron transfer is highly endothermic. As an example, the rate constant for quenching of the excited dicyanoanthracene is 3.5 x 10(9) M(-1)s(-1), even though formation of a conventional radical ion pair, A*-D*+, is endothermic by approximately 0.6 eV. No long-lived radical ions or exciplex intermediates can be detected on the picosecond to microsecond time scale. Instead, the reactions are proposed to proceed via formation of a previously undescribed, short-lived charge-transfer intermediate we call a "bonded exciplex", A- -D+. The bonded exciplex can be formally thought of as resulting from bond formation between the unpaired electrons of the radical ions A*- and D*+. The covalent bonding interaction significantly lowers the energy of the charge-transfer state. As a result of this interaction, the energy decreases with decreasing separation distance, and near van der Waals contact, the A- -D+ bonded state mixes with the repulsive excited state of the acceptor, allowing efficient reaction to form A- -D+ even when formation of a radical ion pair A*-D*+ is thermodynamically forbidden. Evidence for the bonded exciplex intermediate comes from studies of steric and Coulombic effects on the quenching rate constants and from extensive DFT computations that clearly show a curve crossing between the ground state and the low-energy bonded exciplex state.     

Properties and reactivity of xanthyl radical in the excited state

The properties and reactivity of the 9-xanthyl radical (X(*)) in the doublet excited state (X(*)(D(1))) were investigated using nanosecond-picosecond two-color two-laser flash photolysis. The absorption and fluorescence spectra of X(*)(D(1)) were observed for the first time. The reactivity of X(*)(D(1)) toward a series of halogen donors and electron acceptors in acetonitrile and 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) was investigated. It is confirmed that X(*)(D(1)) has a halogen abstraction ability from a series of halogen donors. On the basis of the solvent effect on the quenching rate constants of X(*)(D(1)), an electron transfer from X(*)(D(1)) to CCl(4) was indicated.     

基于异噁唑酮类份菁染料的激发态分子内质子转移的研究

运用量子化学理论计算方法研究了3-甲基-4-(1H-吲哚-3-次甲基)-异噁唑-5-酮(A)及其衍生物份菁染料的激发态分子内质子转移性质.研究表明:在基态3种染料AH(R=H),AO(R=—O(H3))和AP(R=—O(H2Ph))只存在酮式构型,在激发态AH与AP存在酮式和烯醇式2种构型,而AO存在酮式、烯醇式和仲胺式3种构型.红外光谱表明化合物从基态跃迁到激发态存在分子内的氢键增强作用,势能曲线显示激发态的质子转移为放热反应且能垒较低,通过分析电子光谱得到具有较大斯托克位移的激发态分子内质子转移的荧光发射峰,前线分子轨道理论计算进一步说明了其质子转移的发生过程.     

Effect of the relaxation of high-frequency vibrational modes on the kinetics of charge separation and recombination

The processes of intramolecular electron transfer from the second excited electron state accompanied by superfast reverse transfer to the first excited state are studied. The kinetics of the populations of the first and second excited states, along with that the charge-separated states, is calculated within the generalized stochastic model, taking into account the reorganization of the medium and intramolecular high-frequency vibrations. It is shown that variations in the relaxation rate of the high-frequency vibrational modes can change the population of the quenching products by a factor of two to three. It is established that in the case of the weak exothermicity of the charge separation process, the population of the charge-separated states declines upon an increase in the vibrational relaxation rate, while the population of the first excited state increases; in the region of high exothermicity, these dependences change to ones that are opposite. To reveal the scales of these effects in real systems, the kinetics of the photo-induced processes in the zinc-porphyrin derivatives, including electron-acceptor imide groups covalently coupled with porphyrin rings, are calculated. It is shown that the results from calculating the kinetics of the population of the first and the second excited states agree well with the experimental data on the kinetics of the fluorescence of these states. The absolute values of the population of the charge-separated state and the first excited state are determined. The key role of the hot electron transitions that occur in parallel with the relaxation of the medium and intramolecular vibrations in the considered process is shown.     

Photophysics of Halogenated Fluoresceins: Involvement of Both Intramolecular Electron Transfer and Heavy Atom Effect in the Deactivation of Excited States

The fluorescence quantum yield (Φ_f), fluorescence lifetime (τ_f), intersystem crossing quantum yield (Φ_isc) and redox potentials of seven halogenated fluoresceins in their dianion forms were measured and compared in methanol to get a deep insight into the effect of halogeno atoms on their photophysics. It is found that the heavy atom effect alone cannot explain the experimental results, as (1) Φ_f for chlorinated dyes exceeds that of fluorescein and close to unity, (2) the sum of Φ_f and Φ_isc for brominated and iodinated xanthene dyes is remarkably less than unity. The observations can be rationalized by the involvement of intramolecular photoinduced electron transfer, in which the benzoate acts as the electron donor while the xanthene moiety is the acceptor. The more negative reduction potential of excited singlet state for chlorinated fluoresceins results in their much smaller k_et, and hence higher Φ_f.     

PHOTOOXIDATION AND ELECTRON-TRANSFER PROCESSES IN FREE-BASE TETRAPHENYLPORPHIN PROBED BY RESONANCE RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY

Abstract
We report here the resonance Raman studies of photooxidation of free base tetraphenylporphin (H₂TPP) in the presence of external electron acceptors such as CCl₄ and chloranil under selective laser irradiation. From the dependence of photooxidation on the concentration of electron acceptors, polarity of solvents, excitation lines and temperatures, we have inferred that a weak triplet exciplex formed between the excited H₂TPP and electron acceptor in non-polar solvents serves as transient species and the light-induced intermolecular charge transfer from H₂TPP to the electron acceptor is the primary process involved in photooxidation. Observation of partial photooxidation in the rigid matrix at low temperatures has been interpreted to be due to long-range quantum mechanical electron tunneling process. Almost complete photooxidation is observed in a soft matrix as the donor and acceptor molecules can attain favorable relative orientation and separation for electron transfer during the excited state lifetime of the exciplex.     

Dipolar 3-methoxychromones as bright and highly solvatochromic fluorescent dyes

Herein, three environment-sensitive (solvatochromic) fluorescent dyes presenting a strong electron acceptor 3-methoxychromone unit and varied electron donor 2-aryl were developed. All three dyes showed remarkable polarity-dependent shifts of the emission maximum, which increase with extension of the dye conjugation. For the 3-methoxychromone bearing a 7-(diethylamino)-9,9-dimethylfluoren-2-yl donor group the difference between the excited and the ground state dipole moments, estimated from the Lippert-Mataga expression, reached 20 D, which is among the largest reported for neutral dipolar fluorophores. Moreover, the new dyes are characterized by significant two-photon absorption cross-section (up to 450 GM) and large fluorescence quantum yields. The strong decrease in the fluorescence quantum yields of the dyes in polar protic solvents was observed together with the increase in the non-radiative deactivation rates, which can originate from twisted intramolecular charge transfer and intermolecular proton transfer phenomena. In comparison to the parent 3-hydroxychromone derivatives, the new dyes presented significantly improved photostability, which confirms that photodegradation of 3-hydroxychromones occurs from a product of the excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (phototautomer). Finally, an application of the new dyes for probing local binding site polarity of serum albumin was shown. This new class of fluorescent dyes may serve as attractive building blocks for future molecular sensors utilizing environment-sensitive fluorophores.     

Photo-Induced Intermolecular Electron Transfer-Effect of Acceptor Molecular Structures

Photo-induced electron transfer versus molecular structure of acceptors is investigated using ultrafast time-resolved transient grating spectroscopy. Typical laser dyes Rhodamine 101 (Rh101) and Rhodamine 6G (Rh6G) in electron donor solvent-aniline are adopted as the objects. The forward electron transfer time constant from aniline to the excited singlet state of two Rhodamine dyes and subsequent back electron transfer from two dyes to aniline are measured. The experimental results denote that Rh6G presents faster electron transfer rates with aniline in both forward electron transfer and back electron transfer processes. With chemical calculation and qualitative analysis, it is found that the flexible molecular geometry of Rh6G leads to stronger electron coupling with donor solvent and further gives rise to larger electron transfer rates.     

Photochemistry and spectroscopy of "stable organic radicals": steric and electronic effects in intermolecular photoinduced electron transfer

The intermolecular reactivities of amino-substituted perchlorotriphenylmethyl radicals 1-3 were studied, with particular emphasis on electron transfer (ET) reactions. The natural fluorescence lifetimes and the rates of the electron-transfer quenching were studied with several electron donors and acceptors. Fluorescence quenching studies demonstrate the importance of the redox potentials of the ET pair on the observed steric and electronic properties.     

PHOTOOXIDATION AND ELECTRON-TRANSFER PROCESSES IN FREE-BASE TETRAPHENYLPORPHIN PROBED BY RESONANCE RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY

Abstract —We report here the resonance Raman studies of photooxidation of free base tetraphenylporphin (H₂TPP) in the presence of external electron acceptors such as CCl₄ and chloranil under selective laser irradiation. From the dependence of photooxidation on the concentration of electron acceptors, polarity of solvents, excitation lines and temperatures, we have inferred that a weak triplet exciplex formed between the excited H₂TPP and electron acceptor in non-polar solvents serves as transient species and the light-induced intermolecular charge transfer from H₂TPP to the electron acceptor is the primary process involved in photooxidation. Observation of partial photooxidation in the rigid matrix at low temperatures has been interpreted to be due to long-range quantum mechanical electron tunneling process. Almost complete photooxidation is observed in a soft matrix as the donor and acceptor molecules can attain favorable relative orientation and separation for electron transfer during the excited state lifetime of the exciplex.