Application of fluorescence spectroscopy: excited-state dynamics, food-safety, and disease diagnosis

Fluorescence spectroscopy has been widely used in the study of the structure and dynamics of molecules in complex systems. Steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence methods are commonly used to gain insight into the chemical surroundings of the fluorophore. This thesis discusses a range of complex systems and phenomena that may fruitfully be examined by means of fluorescence spectroscopy, in particular: steady-state fluorescence, fluorescence quenching, fluorescence lifetime, time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), and excited-state solvation dynamics. This thesis focuses on the interactions of fluorophores with biologically and environmentally important macromolecules, hydrogen atom transfer in the excited-state of medicinal pigment, and use of fluorescence from tissues for food-safety and disease diagnosis

Fluorescence Spectroscopy of the Retina for Diagnosis of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies

The feasibility of exploiting fluorescence spectra of the eye for diagnosis of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) was examined. Retinas from scrapie-positive sheep were compared with scrapie-negative sheep using fluorescence spectroscopy, and distinct differences in the fluorescence intensity and spectroscopic signatures were observed. The characteristic fluorescent signatures are thought to be the result of an accumulation of lipofuscin in the retina. It appears that the eye, in particular the retina, is a useful tissue for noninvasive examination of some neurological pathologies such as scrapie. The development of procedures based on examinations of the eye that permit the detection of neurological disorders in animals holds great promise

Dynamic Solvation in Phosphonium Ionic Liquids: Comparison of Bulk and Micellar Systems and Considerations for the Construction of the Solvation Correlation Function, C(t)

Dynamic solvation of the dye coumarin 153 is studied in a phosphonium ionic liquid:  hexadecyltributylphosphonium bromide, [(C4)3C16P+][Br-]. It forms micelles in water, and the bulk also exists as a liquid under our experimental conditions. This system permits a comparison with an imidazolium ionic liquid studied earlier, which also formed micelles in water (J. Phys. Chem. A 2006, 110, 10725−10730). We conclude that our analysis of the comparable situation in a phosphonium liquid is not as definitive as we had proposed earlier, i.e., that the majority of the early-time solvation arises from the organic cation. Part of the difficulty in performing this analysis is most likely due to the amount of water that is associated with the micelle. In the course of this work, we have focused on the calculation of the solvation correlation function, C(t), and investigated how it depends upon the methods with which the “zero-time” spectrum is constructed

Comparison of the Dielectric Response Obtained from Fluorescence Upconversion Measurements and Molecular Dynamics Simulations for Coumarin 153−Apomyoglobin Complexes and Structural Analysis of the Complexes by NMR and Fluorescence Methods

We present a comparison of the dielectric response obtained from fluorescence upconversion experiments and from molecular dynamics simulations of the complexes of coumarin 153 with five apomyoglobins (apoMbs): wild-type horse heart (HH-WT) and those of wild-type sperm whale (SW-WT); its two triple mutants, L29F/H64Q/V68F and H64L/V68F/P88A; and its double mutant, L29F/V68L. Comparisons between experimental and simulated solvation relaxation functions, C(t)s, for the wild-type proteins range from very good to excellent. For the three mutants we investigated, however, agreement between experiment and simulation was considerably inferior. Thus, an NMR study of the complex of the HH-WT complex apoMb, and fluorescence energy transfer and anisotropy studies of the five complexes, were performed to investigate the structures upon which the simulations were based. The NMR measurements confirm our earlier conclusions that the C153 lies in the heme pocket of the HH-WT apoMb. For the wild-type complexes, fluorescence energy transfer measurements provide two rise times, suggesting a definite spatial relationship between the two Trp donors and the C153 acceptor. These results confirm the structural integrity of the wild-type complexes and validate the initial structures used for the molecular dynamics simulations. On the other hand, the three mutants provided single exponential rise times for energy transfer, suggesting that the position of the C153 used in the simulations may have been in error or that the C153 is mobile on the time scale of the energy transfer experiment. Fluorescence anisotropy studies also suggest that the double mutant was not structurally intact. Furthermore, examination of these systems demonstrates the sensitivity of C153 to its environment and permits the observation of differences in the heme pockets. These results point to the importance of structural characterization of modified proteins used in studies of the dielectric response and suggest strategies for performing molecular dynamics simulations of modified proteins

Influence of Chiral Ionic Liquids on the Excited-State Properties of Naproxen Analogs

The synthesis and decolorization of chiral room-temperature ionic liquids based upon 1-methyl imidazole and chloromethyl menthyl ether is reported. The excellent optical quality of these solvents permits the investigation of the effects of the two enantiomers on the excited-state photophysics of (S)-N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinemethyl 2(S)-(6-methoxy-2-naphthyl)propionate [(S,S)-NPX-PYR]. Whereas in conventional bulk polar solvents such as acetonitrile, (S,S)-NPX-PYR is known to execute excited-state intramolecular electron transfer and to form exciplexes, in these chiral solvents these nonradiative processes are absent. The chiral solvents do, however, induce a small but reproducible (∼10%) stereodifferentiation in the fluorescence lifetime of (S,S)-NPX-PYR as well as in the parent compound, (S)-naproxen. To our knowledge, this is the first example of chiral ionic liquids inducing such an effect on photophysical properties