Fluorescence and phosphorescence properties of 2-cyano-6-methoxy and 2-cyano-7-methoxy naphthalene

Fluorescence and phosphorescence properties of 2-cyano-6-methoxy and 2-cyano-7-methoxy naphthalenes have been studied. It is observed that the experimentally measured fluorescence lifetimes of the two compounds are much smaller than, while their phosphorescence lifetimes are almost the same as, those of the parent naphthalene molecule. From the measured values of fluorescence quantum yield and fluorescence lifetime the intersystem crossing rate constants for the two molecules have been calculated. They are found to be ten times larger than that of naphthalene. On the other hand, the non-radiative triplet state decay rate constant in each of the two molecules is of the same magnitude as in the parent molecule.     

Do fluorescence decays remitted from tissues accurately reflect intrinsic fluorophore lifetimes?

Fluorescence spectroscopy and imaging methods, including fluorescence lifetime sensing, are being developed for noninvasive tissue diagnostics. The purpose of this study was to identify and quantify those factors affecting the accurate recovery of fluorophore lifetimes from inhomogeneous tissues in vivo. A Monte Carlo code was developed to numerically simulate time-resolved fluorescence measurements on layered epithelial tissues. Simulations were run with experimental parameters matching previously reported clinical studies in the gastrointestinal tract. The results demonstrate that variations in fluorescence decay time as large as those detected clinically between normal and premalignant tissues (approximately 2 ns) could be simulated by variations in tissue morphology or biochemistry, even when intrinsic fluorophore lifetimes were held constant.     

Time-between-photons method for measuring fluorescence lifetimes

We have applied a time-between-photons (TBP) method to measure fluorescence lifetimes in a pulsed-light excitation scheme. The TBP method has been originally proposed by Rossi and his coworkers in the field of ion photon emission microscopy (IPEM) for measuring lifetimes of ion-luminescent materials [Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. B 267 (2009) 2193]. The TBP method has an advantage in that no reference signal is required in the instrumental setup. In the present paper, we demonstrate, for the first time to our knowledge, that the TBP method is also applicable to measure conventional fluorescence lifetimes. The TBP method suits for measuring fluorescent samples whose lifetimes are sufficiently long (≥10 ns) and intensities are moderately high (≤4 × 10^?8 W): fluorescent samples with intermediate quantum yields for which the conventional time-correlated single-photon-counting (TC-SPC) method is somewhat difficult to employ as it is and the conventional analogue light-measurement method is still hard to use.     

A Streak Camera System for Time Resolved Fluorimetry

Presently, there are several techniques for measurement of fluorescence lifetimes of organic molecules. These techniques, reviewed by Ware,¹ can be divided into two basic groups, those based upon pulsed sources and those based on modulated sources and phase shift measurement. In the pulsed methods, repetitive, short pulse width, intense excitation pulses excite the fluorophor and the fluorescence decay is measured; the source temporal response must be deconvoluced from the fluorescence decay in order to evaluate the fluorescence signal and lifetime. Typical sources of excitation include nanosecond flashlamps and more recently nanosecond N₂-laser (with or without a dye laser) and mode-locked lasers with picosecond pulse widths^2-6. The modulated source phase shift methods,¹ involve sinusoidal excitation of the fluorophor and measurement of the phase shift between the modulated excitation source and the modulated flourescence. Because modulation frequencies are limited to approximately 20 MHz, fluorescence lifetimes are limited to ～.1 ns and above. In addition, in the phase shift methods, only “one point” lifetimes are obtained, i.e., the entire fluorescence decay curve is not obtained.     

用时间分辨光谱研究红细胞悬液的荧光发射

实验获得了激光照射红细胞悬液的荧光光谱,并分别监测不同荧光峰值波长处强度随时间的衰变过程,测试了其相应的荧光寿命。结果表明,在波长为407nm的激光照射下,红细胞悬液向外发射中心波长分别位于596,628,692nm的荧光光谱,各荧光峰对应衰变过程的平均荧光寿命分别为1.97,13.31,14.58ns。利用荧光强度和吸收率的加和性表示了混合物的总吸收率和总荧光发射强度,通过理论计算获得了红细胞悬液中锌卟啉、原卟啉和其他游离物参与荧光发射的相对含量和相对强度在不同荧光峰位的变化关系,进一步解释了不同峰位处荧光发射强度和平均荧光寿命的变化原因。     

Testing Fluorescence Lifetime Standards using Two-Photon Excitation and Time-Domain Instrumentation: Rhodamine B,Coumarin 6 and Lucifer Yellow

Having good information about fluorescence lifetime standards is essential for anyone performing lifetime experiments. Using lifetime standards in fluorescence spectroscopy is often regarded as a straightforward process, however, many earlier reports are limited in terms of lifetime concentration dependency, solvents and other technical aspects. We have investigated the suitability of the fluorescent dyes rhodamine B, coumarin 6, and lucifer yellow as lifetime standards, especially to be used with two-photon excitation measurements in the time-domain. We measured absorption and emission spectra for the fluorophores to determine which wavelengths we should use for the excitation and an appropriate detector range. We also measured lifetimes for different concentrations, ranging from 10^?2– 10^?6 M, in both water, ethanol and methanol solutions. We observed that rhodamine B lifetimes depend strongly on concentration. Coumarin 6 provided the most stable lifetimes, with a negligible dependency on concentration and solvent. Lucifer yellow lifetimes were also found to depend little with concentration. Finally, we found that a mix of two fluorophores (rhodamine B/coumarin 6, rhodamine B/lucifer yellow, and coumarin 6/lucifer yellow) all yielded very similar lifetimes from a double-exponential decay as the separate lifetimes measured from a single-exponential decay. All lifetime measurements were made using two-photon excitation and obtaining lifetime data in the time-domain using time-correlated single-photon counting.     

农药荧光寿命测试系统的原理与设计

介绍荧光的产生、荧光寿命的产生机理以及荧光寿命测量的基本原理。设计了一种利用直接记录法(光子计数法)测量农药荧光寿命的测试系统。该系统针对待测样品的特性，选用了相应的脉冲光源、光学元件和半导体探测器等器件，优化了各器件的工作参数，进行了简易而又科学的模块化设计，并对西维因农药的荧光寿命在无激励光干扰情况下进行了实际测试，测得了西维因溶液在500μg／L浓度时的荧光衰减曲线和荧光寿命(0.30～0.40ns)。结果表明，该系统具有结构简易、操作方便的优点，能测量100ps级的荧光寿命，适合于对能发荧光的农药进行荧光寿命的定量测量。     

Universal behaviour of glass transition exponents in various polymeric systems

The fast transient fluorescence (FTRF) technique was used to study the critical exponents during glass transition in free-radical cross-linking copolymerization (FCC). Methyl methacrylate (MMA), ethyl methacrylate (EMA) and various combinations of MMA with EMA were used during FCC experiments. Pyrene (Py) was used as a fluorescence probe and its fluorescence lifetimes from its decay traces were measured during glass transition. Changes in the viscosity of the pre-gel solutions due to glass formation dramatically increased the Py fluorescent lifetimes, which were used to study the glass transition of MMA, EMA and their mixtures as a function of time, at various temperatures and monomer concentrations. The results were interpreted in the view of percolation theory. The critical exponents, β and γ, were measured near the glass transition point and found to be around 0.37 ± 0.015 and 1.69 ± 0.05, respectively, in all systems studied, which are in good agreement with the static percolation results.     

Measurement of multi-exponential optical decay processes by?phase-shift cavity ring-down

Multi-exponential decay waveforms are common occurrences in cavity ring-down spectroscopy and the respective ring-down times are typically obtained by fitting the ring-down waveform to the sum of exponential decay functions. In phase-shift cavity ring-down (CRD) spectroscopy the measurement of a single phase angle will not provide sufficient information and needs to be complemented by either intensity measurements or phase angle measurements at different modulation frequencies. Here, a formalism analogous to that developed for fluorescence lifetime spectroscopy is adapted to the phase-shift CRD technique and is tested for two types of waveguide CRD systems: (1) a single-mode fiber cavity in which light is confined by two identical Fiber Bragg Gratings and (2) a multimode fiber loop. By measuring the phase angle at different modulation frequencies, lifetimes for up to three different decay processes were obtained.     

基于不同泵浦波形的荧光寿命测量

该文从理论上分析了不同泵浦波形下的荧光衰减规律,提出了一种在不同泵浦波形下测量荧光寿命的新方法——双脉冲探测法,即利用探测泵浦脉冲与荧光衰减脉冲的方法测量荧光寿命。通过对样品钕玻璃及Cr:ZnSe晶体的荧光寿命测量表明:利用该方法在不同泵浦波形下能够实现可见及近红外到中红外激光介质的荧光寿命测量。因此,利用该测量方法能够方便、有效的避免通过解卷积求样品荧光寿命的繁琐过程,对测量激光介质在不同泵浦波形下的荧光寿命具有参考价值。     

Lifetimes of rovibrational levels of the long-range I′ 1Πg state of H2 and D2: experiment and theory

The lifetimes of the lowest lying rovibrational levels of the outer well I′ ¹Π_g state of molecular hydrogen were measured for both H₂ and D₂. The measurements were made by direct observation of the time-dependent decay of the fluorescence. The observed lifetimes depend on isotopomer and increase with vibrational excitation. The predominant decay route for these levels is fluorescence. Previously published ab initio lifetimes calculated for these states, which accounted for non-adiabatic interactions [J. Chem. Phys. 92, 7461 (1990)], are in good agreement with experiment for H₂ but are too long by four or five orders of magnitude for D₂. We present new ab initio results at the adiabatic level for the fluorescence lifetimes. The current results are in reasonable agreement with the experimental lifetimes for both H₂ and D₂. We explain the isotopomer and vibrational dependence of the lifetimes and discuss the neglected interactions and decay pathways.     

微秒级激光荧光寿命测量

本文描述了由氮分子激光器，小型光栅单色器，光电倍增管，记忆示波器等组装成的微光荧光寿命测量装置，讨论了该装置的测量原理和方法，并测定了ＹＡＧ晶体，钒磷酸盐等样品的荧光寿命，测定的结果与标准样品值相符。     

假根羽藻LHCⅡ的同质和异质三聚体的能量传递动力学研究

采用飞秒时间分辨荧光光谱技术在室温下用波长为495nm的光激发,研究了假根羽藻LHCⅡ的同质三聚体和异质三聚体这两种不同聚集形式蛋白复合物的光谱特性和传能特性.将实验获得的两样品的荧光光谱分别进行高斯解析,各得到5条亚谱带,并分析得出同质三聚体的四种特征Chl分子的光谱特性和异质三聚体的五种特征Chl分子光谱特性,另外还对两蛋白复合物的荧光光谱作了比较.利用Global优化处理方法,建立多指数拟合联立方程对荧光衰减曲线进行拟合处理,得到同质三聚体Chl分子传能的寿命：165±8.5 fs、2.2±0.6 ps、5.1±0.1 ns;异质三聚体Chl分子传能的寿命：255±6.3 fs、4±0.8 ps和3.8±0.1 ns;并且将这些时间常数作出归属.将其分析比较,快组分同质三聚体的传能速率较高,推断组成同质三聚体的同种脱辅基蛋白间的结合程度较组成异质三聚体的不同脱辅基蛋白间的更紧密,使其上结合的Chl分子空间位置更近,更有利于能量的迅速传递;而慢组分同质三聚体的偏大,可能是由于其经历的传能途径较长,传能机制上也和异质三聚体不同所致.     

Electronic spectroscopy of highly polar aromatics. X. Luminescence of the fluorobenzonitriles

The absorption and emission spectra of the three isomeric fluorobenzonitriles have been investigated. Quantum yields and decay lifetimes are reported for both fluorescence and phosphorescence processes. Kinetic parameters for energy-depletive processes have been generated and it is shown that this weakly polar subset of D-?-A molecules exhibits most of the characteristics which are peculiar to highly polar isomeric D-?-A triads.     

Quenchers Induce Wavelength Dependence on Protein Fluorescence Lifetimes

We have analysed the picosecond resolved fluorescence emission decay of horseradish peroxidase A2 and of HEW lysozyme acquired with a streak camera. Analyses of the fluorescence decay data of both proteins revealed that the dynamics of the decay is dependent on the emission wavelength. Our data strongly indicates that resonance energy transfer occurring between aromatic residues and different protein fluorescence quencher groups, and the nature of the quencher groups, are the causes of the observed wavelength dependent mean lifetime distribution. Using the global analysis data to calculate the fluorescence mean lifetime at each wavelength revealed that for lysozyme, the mean fluorescence lifetime increased with observation wavelength, whereas the opposite was the case for peroxidase. Both proteins contain strong fluorescence quencher groups located in close spatial proximity to the protein’s aromatic residues. Lysozyme contains disulfide bridges as the main fluorescence quencher whereas peroxidase contains a heme group. Both for lysozyme and horseradish peroxidase there is a clear correlation between the observed fluorescence mean lifetime of the protein at a particular emission wavelength and the respective quencher’s extinction coefficient at the respective wavelength. Furthermore, our study also reports a comparison of the analyses of the fluorescence data done with three different methods. Analyses of the fluorescence decay at 10 different fluorescence emission wavelengths revealed significant differences in both fluorescence lifetimes and the pre-exponential factor distributions. Such values differed from the values recovered from the integrated decay curves and from global analyse.     

Spectrophotometric Characteristics of New Pyridylindolizine Derivatives Solutions

Three new pyridylindolizine derivatives, 1, 2, 3-tricarbometoxi-7-(4-pyridyl)-pyrrolo[1, 2-a]pyridine (I), 1,2-dicarboethoxy-3-(4-bromobenzoyl)-7-(4-pyridyl)-pyrrolo[1,2-a]pyridine (II) and its isomer 1,2-dicarboethoxy-3- (4-bromobenzoyl) -5- (2-pyridyl) -pyrrolo[1, 2-a]pyridine (III) have been investigated in different solutions by UV-VIS absorption, steady-state, and time-resolved fluorescence methods. The effects of the substituent and solvent on the spectroscopic properties have been demonstrated. The fluorescence decay data could be fitted to a single-exponential function. The lifetime values are higher in protic polar than in aprotic apolar solvents for compound I. In the case of compounds II and III the fluorescence intensities and lifetimes are very low, with the exception of III in aprotic solvents. The absorption and fluorescence properties of the compounds showed a solvent dependence.     

稀土配合物的时间分辨荧光光谱法研究(Ⅱ)——Eu,Sm-DBM-TOPO体系的荧光衰减动力学特性和激光诱导时间分辨荧光光谱

本文以Nd:YAG泵浦的染料激光器为激发光源,门控光学多道分析仪为检测器,自制的触发器和荧光盒组装成一台激光诱导时间分辨光谱装置。采用此装置研究了在表面活性剂Triton X-100存在下铕、钐-二苯甲酰甲烷-三正辛基氧化膦(Eu、Sm-DBM-TOPO)体系的激光诱导发光光谱特性和荧光衰减动力学特性。讨论了荧光发射过程中的能量传递机制。拟定出测定痕有铕和钐的时间分辨光谱方法,用于高纯稀土氧化物等样品中痕量铕和钐的测定,结果满意。     

Fluorescence Spectroscopy and Confocal Microscopy of the Mycotoxin Citrinin in Condensed Phase and Hydrogel Films

The emission spectra, quantum yields and fluorescence lifetimes of citrinin in organic solvents and hydrogel films have been determined. Citrinin shows complex fluorescence decays due to the presence of two tautomers in solution and interconversion from excited-state double proton transfer (ESDPT) process. The fluorescence decay times associated with the two tautomers have values near 1 and 5 ns depending on the medium. In hydrogel films of agarose and alginate, fluorescence imaging showed that citrinin is not homogeneously dispersed and highly emissive micrometer spots may be formed. Fluorescence spectrum and decay analysis are used to recognize the presence of citrinin in hydrogel films using confocal fluorescence microscopy and spectroscopy.     

Origin of Tryptophan Fluorescence Lifetimes. Part 2: Fluorescence Lifetimes Origin of Tryptophan in Proteins

Fluorescence intensity decays of L-tryptophan in proteins dissolved in pH 7 buffer, in ethanol and in 6 M guanidine pH 7.8 and in lyophilized proteins were measured. In all protein conditions, three lifetimes were obtained along the emission spectrum (310–410 nm). The two shortest lifetimes are in the same range of those obtained for L-Trp in water or in ethanol. Thus, these two lifetimes originate from specific two sub-structures existing in the excited state and are inherent to the tryptophan structure independently of the surrounding environment (amino acids residues, solvent, etc.) In proteins, the third lifetime originates from the interactions that are occurring between tryptophan residues and neighboring amino acids. Populations of these lifetimes are independent of the excitation wavelength and thus originate from pre-defined sub structures existing in the excited state and put into evidence after tryptophan excitation. Fluorescence decay studies of different tripeptides having a tryptophan residue in second position show that the best analysis is obtained with two fluorescence lifetimes. Consequently, this result seems to exclude the possibility that peptide bond induces the third fluorescence lifetimes. Indole dissolved in water and/or in ethanol emits with two fluorescence lifetimes that are completely different from those observed for L-Trp. Absence of the third lifetime in ethanol demonstrates that indole behaves differently when compared to tryptophan. Thus, it seems not adequate to attribute fluorescence lifetime or fluorescence properties of tryptophan to indole ring and to compare tryptophan fluorescence properties in proteins to molecules having close structures such as NATA which fluoresces with one lifetime.