A Thiazole Coumarin (TC) turn-on fluorescence probe for AT-base pair detection and multipurpose applications in different biological systems

Sequence-specific recognition of DNA by small turn-on fluorescence probes is a promising tool for bioimaging, bioanalytical and biomedical applications. Here, the authors report a novel cell-permeable and red fluorescent hemicyanine-based Thiazole Coumarin (TC) probe for DNA recognition, nuclear staining and cell cycle analysis. TC exhibited strong fluorescence enhancement in the presence of DNA containing AT-base pairs, but did not fluoresce with GC sequences, single-stranded DNA, RNA and proteins. The fluorescence staining of HeLa S3 and HEK 293 cells by TC followed by DNase and RNase digestion studies depicted the selective staining of DNA in the nucleus over the cytoplasmic region. Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) analysis by flow cytometry demonstrated the potential application of TC in cell cycle analysis in HEK 293 cells. Metaphase chromosome and malaria parasite DNA imaging studies further confirmed the in vivo diagnostic and therapeutic applications of probe TC. Probe TC may find multiple applications in fluorescence spectroscopy, diagnostics, bioimaging and molecular and cell biology

Aqueous-Phase Synthesis of Silver Nanodiscs and Nanorods in Methyl Cellulose Matrix: Photophysical Study and Simulation of UV–Vis Extinction Spectra Using DDA Method

We present a very simple and effective way for the synthesis of tunable coloured silver sols having different morphologies. The procedure is based on the seed-mediated growth approach where methyl cellulose (MC) has been used as soft-template in the growth solution. Nanostructures of varying morphologies as well as colour of the silver sols are controlled by altering the concentration of citrate in the growth solution. Similar to the polymers in the solution, citrate ions also dynamically adsorbed on the growing silver nanoparticles and promote one (1-D) and two-dimensional (2-D) growth of nanoparticles. Silver nanostructures are characterized using UV–vis and HR-TEM spectroscopic study. Simulation of the UV–vis extinction spectra of our synthesized silver nanostructures has been carried out using discrete dipole approximation (DDA) method

Microwave-assisted synthesis of anisotropic gold nanocrystals in polymer matrix and their catalytic activities

<div><p>We report a facile and fast one-pot microwave (MW) synthesis of gold nanotriangle, nanobranches and nanorod. Gold salt is reduced to gold nanoparticles by ethylene glycol/polyethylene glycol in the presence of hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose. Morphology of the nanocrystals can be tailored by varying the amount of capping agents, reducing agent and the MW irradiation time. Synthesised nanoparticles are characterised by ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis), transmission electron microscopic and X-ray diffraction spectroscopy study. The key requirement for producing the gold triangle and gold nanorod of higher aspect ratio is the adequate MW heating time. The photocatalytic activity of gold nanocrystals is investigated by monitoring the photochemical reduction of 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP) in the presence of excess NaBH₄. The reaction is first order with respect to the concentration of TNP. It has been observed that the catalytic efficiency of rod-like gold nanocrystals is higher than the other gold nanocrystals.</p></div