Ultrafast Fluorescence Spectroscopy via Upconversion and Its Applications in Biophysics

In this review, the experimental set-up and functional characteristics of single-wavelength and broad-band femtosecond upconversion spectrophotofluorometers developed in our laboratory are described. We discuss applications of this technique to biophysical problems, such as ultrafast fluorescence quenching and solvation dynamics of tryptophan, peptides, proteins, reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), and nucleic acids. In the tryptophan dynamics field, especially for proteins, two types of solvation dynamics on different time scales have been well explored: ~1 ps for bulk water, and tens of picoseconds for “biological water”, a term that combines effects of water and macromolecule dynamics. In addition, some proteins also show quasi-static self-quenching (QSSQ) phenomena. Interestingly, in our more recent work, we also find that similar mixtures of quenching and solvation dynamics occur for the metabolic cofactor NADH. In this review, we add a brief overview of the emerging development of fluorescent RNA aptamers and their potential application to live cell imaging, while noting how ultrafast measurement may speed their optimization.     

Femtosecond studies of tryptophan fluorescence dynamics in proteins: local solvation and electronic quenching

We report our systematic examination of tryptophan fluorescence dynamics in proteins with femtosecond resolution. Distinct patterns of femtosecond-resolved fluorescence transients from the blue to the red side of emission have been characterized to distinguish local ultrafast solvation and electronic quenching. It is shown that tryptophan is an ideal local optical probe for hydration dynamics and protein-water interactions as well as an excellent local molecular reporter for ultrafast electron transfer in proteins, as demonstrated by a series of biological systems, here in melittin, human serum albumin, and human thioredoxin, and at lipid interfaces. These studies clarify the assignments in the literature about the ultrafast solvation or quenching dynamics of tryptophan in proteins. We also report a new observation of solvation dynamics at far red-side emission when the relaxation of the local environment is slower than 1 ps. These results provide a molecular basis for using tryptophan as a local molecular probe for ultrafast protein dynamics in general.     

SIMULTANEOUS SATURATION OF VARIABLE FLUORESCENCE YIELD AND PHOTOACOUSTICALLY MONITORED THERMAL EMISSION IN THYLAKOID MEMBRANES

Thermal and fluorescence emission from thylakoid membranes were monitored simultaneously in a photoacoustic cell. A close relationship existing between variable fluorescence and variable thermal emissions is demonstrated. The modulated measuring beam of the photoacoustic spectrophotometer was used to study the effect of light intensity on the energy storage yield and on the variable fluorescence yield. The half-saturation light intensities obtained for both parameters were 8.5 and 9.1 W m^?2, respectively. The similar sensitivity of energy storage and variable fluorescence yield to light intensity indicates that electron transfer with plastoquinone as last acceptor is probably responsible for the photoacoustically monitored energy storage.     

Ion chromatographic method for the simultaneous determination of nitrite and nitrate by post-column indirect fluorescence detection

This short paper highlights the suitability of ion chromatography with post-column indirect fluorescence detection to determine simultaneously nitrite and nitrate based on the quenching of tryptophan native fluorescence. The method uses an enhanced fluorescence mobile phase containing tryptophan and detects the suppression of fluorescence of the mobile phase due to the elution of the target ions. The phenomenon of fluorescence quenching of tryptophan is highly induced by the presence of phosphate ions. The quenched fluorescence intensity exhibits concentration dependence in the range 1-25 mg/l and 3-65 mg/l for nitrite and nitrate, respectively. The relative standard deviation for five replicates of a standard solution containing a mixture of 5 mg/l of nitrite and 10 mg/l of nitrate lies around 2.8%. This simple coupling technique results in a relatively sensitive, fast, and accurate method, allowing for both qualitative and quantitative analysis of nitrite and nitrate. The method can easily be implemented to real samples such as foodstuffs, fertilizers and soils and is proven to be precise and accurate when compared with reference methods.     

Laser spectroscopic studies of Tb3+-doped oxyfluoroborate glass

Tb3+-doped oxyfluoroborate glasses have been prepared for different concentrations of Tb. The absorption, fluorescence and photoacoustic spectra of these have been recorded and studied. It is marked that the fluorescence intensity of different fluorescence transitions decreases with the increase of Tb ion concentration in the glass. This quenching at higher concentration is due to the energy transfer among the excited and nearest neighbor unexcited Tb ions in the glass. The lifetime measurement confirms it, as the lifetime of a particular state was found to decrease with the increase of Tb ion concentration in the glass. The mechanism of the energy transfer process was determined to involve quadrupole quadrupole interaction. We have also studied the energy transfer from Tb3+-->Pr3+ when both the rare earths are doped together in the glass. A decrease in the lifetime of the 5D4 level of Tb3+ with the increase of Pr3+ concentration confirms this.     

铱(IV)离子与人血丙种球蛋白的作用研究

在0.1 mol•L^－1醋酸-醋酸钠(pH 5.0)体系中, 采用紫外吸收光谱、荧光光谱及同步荧光光谱法研究了人血丙种球蛋白(gamma seroglobulinum humanum, 简称GSH)与铱(IV)离子的相互作用. 结果表明, Ir(IV)离子使人血丙种球蛋白的构象发生了改变, α-螺旋含量减少, 并且用同步荧光光谱发现Ir(IV)离子与人血丙种球蛋白的作用位点更接近于色氨酸, 从而使色氨酸残基的疏水性略有减小. 荧光光谱结果表明Ir(IV)对人血丙种球蛋白内源荧光(342 nm)产生了较强的荧光猝灭作用, 根据不同温度下Ir(IV)对人血丙种球蛋白的荧光猝灭作用, 证明了这种荧光猝灭为静态猝灭机制, 计算了其结合常数和结合位点数, 从而得出了静电作用力为其主要的作用力.     

Quenching mechanism of Zn(salicylaldimine) by nitroaromatics

Nitroaromatics and nitroalkanes quench the fluorescence of Zn(Salophen) (H2Salophen = N,N'-phenylene-bis-(3,5-di- tert-butylsalicylideneimine); ZnL(R)) complexes. A structurally related family of ZnL(R) complexes (R = OMe, di-tBu, tBu, Cl, NO2) were prepared, and the mechanisms of fluorescence quenching by nitroaromatics were studied by a combined kinetics and spectroscopic approach. The fluorescent quantum yields for ZnL(R) were generally high (Phi approximately 0.3) with sub-nanosecond fluorescence lifetimes. The fluorescence of ZnL(R) was quenched by nitroaromatic compounds by a mixture of static and dynamic pathways, reflecting the ZnL(R) ligand bulk and reduction potential. Steady-state Stern-Volmer plots were curved for ZnL(R) with less-bulky substituents (R = OMe, NO2), suggesting that both static and dynamic pathways were important for quenching. Transient Stern-Volmer data indicated that the dynamic pathway dominated quenching for ZnL(R) with bulky substituents (R = tBu, DtBu). The quenching rate constants with varied nitroaromatics (ArNO2) followed the driving force dependence predicted for bimolecular electron transfer: ZnL* + ArNO2 --> ZnL(+) + ArNO2(-). A treatment of the diffusion-corrected quenching rates with Marcus theory yielded a modest reorganization energy (lambda = 25 kcal/mol), and a small self-exchange reorganization energy for ZnL*/ZnL(+) (ca. 20 kcal/mol) was estimated from the Marcus cross-relation, suggesting that metal phenoxyls may be robust biological redox cofactors. Electronic structure calculations indicated very small changes in bond distances for the ZnL --> ZnL(+) oxidation, suggesting that solvation was the dominant contributor to the observed reorganization energy. These mechanistic insights provide information that will be helpful to further develop ZnL(R) as sensors, as well as for potential photoinduced charge transfer chemistry.     

"ENERGY"-DEPENDENT QUENCHING OF CHLOROPHYLL FLUORESCENCE and THERMAL ENERGY DISSIPATION IN INTACT LEAVES DURING INDUCTION OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS

Abstract— Intact leaves, previously adapted to darkness for a prolonged period of time, were suddenly illuminated with a strong, photosynthetically saturating, white light (ca 1500 μmol m⁻² s^_1), resulting in the rapid establishment of a large energy-dependent chlorophyll fluorescence quenching (q_E) as shown by in vivo fluorescence measurements with a pulse amplitude modulation technique. Two different photothermal methods, photoacoustic spectroscopy and photothermal deflection spectroscopy, were used to monitor thermal deactivation of excited pigments during the dark-light transitions. The in vivo photothermal signals measured with both techniques were shown to remain constant during induction of photosynthesis under high light conditions, suggesting that, in contrast to current hypotheses, energy-dependent quenching q_E is not associated with significant changes in thermal dissipation of absorbed light energy in the chloroplasts. When photosynthesis was induced with a low-intensity modulated light, a noticeable decrease in the heat emission yield was observed resulting from the progressive activation of the competing photochemical processes.     

Multi-spectroscopic Investigations of Aspirin and Colchicine Interactions with Human Hemoglobin: Binary and Ternary Systems

The interactions of colchicine (COL) and aspirin (ASA) with human hemoglobin (HB) was studied by fluorescence, UV/vis absorption, resonance light scattering, synchronous fluorescence and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopic techniques under physiological conditions. The inherent binding information, including the quenching mechanism, binding constants, number of binding sites, effective quenching constant, fraction of the initial fluorescence and thermodynamic parameters were determined by the fluorescence quenching technique at different temperatures. The results proved that the mechanism of fluorescence quenching of HB by COL and ASA is due to formation of HB–drug complexes in the binary and ternary systems. The distance between the acceptor drugs and HB was estimated by Förster’s equation on the basis of fluorescence energy transfer. In addition, according to the synchronous fluorescence spectra of HB, the results showed that the fluorescence quenching of HB originated solely from the tryptophan residues and indicated a conformational change for HB caused by addition of the drugs. Far-UV CD spectra of HB were recorded before and after the addition of ASA and COL both as binary and ternary systems. An increase in intensity of the positive CD peak of HB was observed in the presence of these drugs. The results were interpreted as excited state interactions between the aromatic residues of the HB binding sites and the drugs bound to them.     

Photoinduced electron transfer from higher excited singlet states of tryprophan: 1. Effects of the excitation wavelength, pH, and temperature on quenching of Tryptophan fluorescence by europium(III) ions

Effects of the excitation energy, temperature, and pH on the quantum yield and the Stern-Volmer quenching constant for tryptophan fluorescence quenching by europium(III) chloride were studied. Competition between intracomplex reversible photoinduced electron transfer from tryptophan to Eu(III) ions and the processes of internal conversion and vibrational relaxation of higher excited singlet states S _n (n > 1) of tryptophan was revealed.     

Spectrofluorimetric trace determination of terbium(III) with potassium oxalate

Potassium oxalate acts as a specific reagent in enhancing the fluorescence intensity of terbium in aqueous solutions. Maximum fluorescence intensity is obtained by irradiating (at 255 mμ) terbium(III) dissolved in 0.01 M potassium oxalate solution at pH 7.8. The enhancement and quenching phenomena caused by other lanthanides, errors in the determination, and various examples of spectrofluorimetric analysis of traces of terbium in mixtures with other lanthanides are described. The sensitivity of the method is 5·10^-2μg/ml of terbium.     

Tryptophan fluorescence quenching by alkaline earth metal cations in deionized bacteriorhodopsin

Tryptophan quenching by the addition of alkaline earth metal cations to deionized bacteriorhodopsin suspensions was determined. The results show that the addition of cation primarily quenches fluorescence from surface tryptophan residues. The quenched intensity exhibits a 1/R dependence, where R is the ionic radius of the corresponding metal ion. This observation results from a stronger energy transfer coupling between the tryptophan and the retinal. The membrane curvature may be involved as a result of cations motion and correlated conformational changes.     

Terbium(III) as fluorescence probe in the study of the interaction of rare earth and transition metal ions with concanavalin A

The binding site for calcium (II) on concanavalin A (con-A) can be occupied by rare earth ions. When terbium (III) ion binds to con-A, its fluorescence intensity is tremendously enhanced because of an energy transfer from one or more tryptophan residues in close proximity to the bound terbium (III). The dissociation constant of the con-A-Tb (III) complex is 8.90 × 10^?6M, obtained from terbium (III) fluorescence titration with con-A. The dissociation constant of the complexes of con-A with other rare earth and transition metal ions was obtained through their competition with terbium (III) in the reaction with con-A, i. e. the quenching of con-A enhanced fluorescence. The results indicate that the binding of rare earth ions with con-A is dependent not only on their ionic radius but also on the hard-soft acid-base strength of the metal ions.     

Optical properties of Dy3+ doped in oxyfluoroborate glass

Optical absorption, fluorescence and photoacoustic spectra of Dy3+ doped in oxyfluoroborate glass has been studied. Lifetime of 4F(9/2) level has been measured for different concentration of Dy3+. Effect of concentration quenching on the lifetime and the fluorescence yield has been observed and the mechanism of energy transfer discussed. The energy transfer from Pr3+ to Dy3+ has been observed and explained in a codoped glass containing Pr3+ + Dy3+.     

Quenching of tryptophan fluorescence of firefly luciferase by substrates

The interaction of firefly luciferase with substrates (luciferin and MgATP) by steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence is studied. The efficient quenching of tryptophan fluorescence of the active enzyme takes place upon its binding with substrates. In the presence of ATP the quenching is of dynamic type and is caused by structural changes in the protein molecule upon ATP binding. A model is proposed in which the complex has smaller fluorescence quantum yield than the free enzyme because of partial quenching of tryptophan fluorescence by the new microenvironment. Quenching of tryptophan fluorescence by luciferin due to the efficient energy transfer from tryptophan to luciferin is discussed. The calculated distance between Trp-419 and luciferin for the L. mingrelica luciferase in the enzyme-substrate complex is less than 12 A.     

变温下荧光猝灭和加强理论公式合理性的比较

通过荧光和紫外方法研究盐酸左氧氟沙星、氟罗沙星、加替沙星和沃氟沙星四种喹诺酮类药物与人血清白蛋白(HSA)的作用, 在不同温度下对荧光加强和猝灭理论公式的等价性和精细差异进行了比较, 结果表明: 在不同温度下两种理论公式尽管在求取解离常数上所得结果都可视为有效, 但猝灭方程的双倒数图反而不及荧光加强方程的双倒数图与体现动态、静态猝灭机理的猝灭曲线一致. 对于能量转移效率E, 我们首次定义: 按自由荧光体白蛋白的荧光强度F₀和加入药物至荧光不再变化时的荧光强度F值计算F/F₀, 进而将F/F₀代入E＝１－F/F₀计算能量转移效率E. 它标示出每个体系发生能量转移的最大限度, 向体系中再添加药物, 已不能发生进一步的猝灭, 这一新定义的引入, 使得能量转移效率E这一量值有可能推广到估算白蛋白运载药物能力的最大限度.     

Dynamics and energetics of the self-assembly of a hydrophobically modified polyelectrolyte: Naphthalene-labeled poly(acrylic acid)

Steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence studies were performed on aqueous solutions of poly(acrylic acid) hydrophobically modified with two very different levels of naphthalene (Np). It is demonstrated that unique information on association phenomena involving hydrophobe-modifed polymers can be obtained from an extended fluorescence study by using data for a less-modified polymer as a reference. For the more highly modified polymer, the presence of excited-state (as well as ground-state) dimers in addition to monomer emission due to locally excited naphthalene gives evidence for hydrophobic association between naphthalene groups. This association becomes, as expected, much less important at higher pH due to the electrostatic repulsion between different chain segments. However, it is noted that even at high pH there is a significant self-association. The coexistence of static and dynamic quenching phenomena of the Np monomer label was also revealed in the time-resolved fluorescence data. The data are compatible with the existence of two types of monomers and one excimer and suggest that the essential contribution to the monomer emission comes from isolated chromophores, whereas excimer formation arises from both a dynamic route (excited Np chromophores able to produce a dynamic excimer) and a static route (excitation of ground-state Np dimers). At room temperature, the dissociative reaction, excimer-to-monomer, can be neglected, and thus the rate constant for excimer formation and decay could be obtained with and without considering the influence of preformed dimers. Temperature has shown to induce different behavior in the polymer photophysics. In the case of the less-labeled polymer, the decays were found to be single-exponential with the fluorescence lifetime decreasing with increasing temperature. From the temperature dependence of the steady-state fluorescence data, the activation energy for excimer formation and the binding energy of the excimer were evaluated at different pH values, through the Stevens-Ban-type plots of the excimer-to-monomer intensity ratio. With the time-resolved data, measured in the temperature range of 5-60 degrees C, it was possible to extract the intrinsic activation energies for excimer formation. The thermodynamic driving force for the intrapolymeric association was found to be dependent on a balance between hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions, which are dependent on the pH, temperature, and hydrophobic content of the polymer.     

Optical studies of Eu3+ doped oxyfluoroborate glass

Rare earth doped oxyfluoroborate glasses have been prepared with different concentration of Eu3+. The UV-Vis/NIR optical absorption, laser induced fluorescence and photoacoustic spectra of Eu3+ in this host have been studied. Different optical parameters such as oscillator strength, Judd-Ofelt intensity parameter, stimulated emission cross-section, transition probability, branching ratio and radiative lifetime, etc. have been calculated. Lifetime of the 5D0 level at various concentrations of Eu3+ have been used to explain the concentration dependent fluorescence quenching. The mechanism of quenching was found to be dipole-dipole. Energy transfer have also been studied from Eu3+ to Pr3+ in sample with 1 mol% (Eu3+) + 1 mol% Pr3+.     

Energy transfer in the d3Pi(g)-a3Pi(u) (0-0) Swan bands of C2: implications for quantitative measurements

Energy transfer effects on dicarbon (C2) d3Pi(g) <-- a3Pi(u) laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) spectra in fuel-rich acetylene atmospheric-pressure flames have been studied using a combination of two different two-dimensional techniques. Measurements using a picosecond laser system in conjunction with a streak camera allowed determination of typical fluorescence lifetimes of levels in the d state and of population changes introduced by rotational energy transfer (RET) and by state-dependent quenching. Excitation-emission spectroscopy yielded two-dimensional maps containing all excitation and all emission spectra in the spectral ranges between 19 340 and 20 150 cm(-1) (excitation) and from 546 to 573 nm (emission) and allowed unambiguous assignment of all transitions in this spectral region. Our measurements show a comparatively long quenching lifetime (around 2 ns) and dominant effects of energy transfer on shape and intensity of the acquired spectra (90% of the fluorescence stems from levels populated by ET). A pronounced dependence of the total RET on the quantum number of the initially excited state is observed. Vibrational energy transfer (VET) is significantly weaker (only 5% contribution for excitation in the v' = 1 level). Implications for quantitative concentration measurements are discussed, and exemplary spatially resolved profiles in a well-characterized low-pressure propene flame are presented.     

THE INTERACTION OF MELANIN WITH 8-METHOXYPSORALEN: EFFECT ON RADIATIVE and NONRADIATIVE TRANSITIONS. A FLUORESCENCE and PULSED PHOTOACOUSTIC STUDY

Abstract –The interaction of 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP) with synthetic eumelanin was investigated using static and time-resolved fluorescence and pulsed photoacoustic calorimetry. Due to the strong overlap of the absorption bands of melanin and 8-MOP, a method is presented to account for the systematic errors introduced by the optical filter effect exerted by each absorbing species in the fluorescence and the photoacoustic measurements. As a preliminary step to the understanding of the nonradiative behavior of the psoralen-melanin complexes, the photoacoustic parameters of 8-MOP in various solvents were determined. Spectroscopic data indicate the absence of interaction at the ground-state level, whereas the singlet excited state of 8-MOP is quenched by the pigment; the average fluorescence lifetimes are independent of the melanin concentration, thus indicating a static quenching mechanism. The photoacoustic data show that the quenching process involves an increased intersystem crossing probability, which is almost unaffected by the presence of oxygen, as expected for a molecule essentially acting as a type I photosensitizing agent.