White‐Fluorescent Dual‐Emission Mechanosensitive Membrane Probes that Function by Bending Rather than Twisting |
| |
| Authors: | Heorhii V Humeniuk Dr Arnulf Rosspeintner Dr Giuseppe Licari Dr Vasyl Kilin Dr Luigi Bonacina Prof Eric Vauthey Dr Naomi Sakai Prof Stefan Matile |
| |
| Institution: | 1. http://www.unige.ch/sciences/chiorg/matile/;2. Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland;3. Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland;4. Department of Applied Physics, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland |
| |
| Abstract: | Bent N,N′‐diphenyl‐dihydrodibenzoa,c]phenazine amphiphiles are introduced as mechanosensitive membrane probes that operate by an unprecedented mechanism, namely, unbending in the excited state as opposed to the previously reported untwisting in the ground and twisting in the excited state. Their dual emission from bent or “closed” and planarized or “open” excited states is shown to discriminate between micelles in water and monomers in solid‐ordered (So), liquid‐disordered (Ld) and bulk membranes. The dual‐emission spectra cover enough of the visible range to produce vesicles that emit white light with ratiometrically encoded information. Strategies to improve the bent mechanophores with expanded π systems and auxochromes are reported, and compatibility with imaging of membrane domains in giant unilamellar vesicles by two‐photon excitation fluorescence (TPEF) microscopy is demonstrated. |
| |
| Keywords: | bent aromatics fluorescent probes lipid bilayer membranes mechanochemistry white fluorescence |
|
|
