Journal of Fluorescence

We observed the emission of l,6-diphenyl-l,3,5-hexatriene (DPH) when excited with the fundamental output of a fs Ti:sapphire laser at 860 nm. The emission spectra of DPH were identical to that observed for one-photon excitation at 287 nm. The dependence of the DPH emission intensity on laser power was cubic, indicating three-photon excitation of DPH at 860 nm. At a shorter wavelength of 810 nm, the dependence on laser power was quadratic, indicating a two-photon process. At an intermediate wavelength of 830 nm the mode of excitation was a mixture of two- and three-photon excitation. At 830 nm the anisotropy is no longer a molecular parameter, and the mode of excitation and anisotropy of DPH depends on laser power. Frequency-domain anisotropy decays of DPH in triacetin revealed the same rotational correlation times for two- and three-photon excitation. However, the time 0 anisotropy of DPH was larger for three-photon excitation than for two-photon excitation. Steady-state anisotropy data for DPH-labeled membranes revealed the same transition temperature for one- and three-photon excitation. These anisotropy data indicate that membrane heating was not significant with three-photon excitation and that three-photon excitation may thus be of practical usefulness in fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy of membranes.

The spectroscopic and laser characteristics of two benzopyrane derivatives for 600–670 nm spectrum region of lasing in preliminarily annealed silica xerogel matrices in non-selective cavity under laser pumping at 551 nm have been measured and analysed. The influence of molecular structure of the dyes on their non-radiating losses has been revealed. The specific output laser energy of the studied matrices was approximately equal to the ones for corresponding methanol solutions under the same pumping conditions. The laser spectra of the matrices were displaced to the red region from the fluorescence maximum by about 1000–1500 cm−1 in a nonselective cavity. Such spectral displacement may improve the characteristics of biosensors made on the basis of these matrices because it shifts their emission spectrum to the range of deeper penetration into biological tissues.

We report the fluorescence quenching of perylene by CoCl2·6H2O in small unilamellar DPPC vesicles via energy transfer. At the probe-to-lipid ratio of 1∶200 and quencher to lipid ratios of ≥12.5∶1, donor-donor energy transfer between clustered perylene molecules was observed as well as energy transfer from the perylene molecules to cobalt ions bothabove andbelow the main phase transition temperature of the lipid. The fluorescence quenching of perylene by CoCl2·6H2O in the lipid gel state is shown to be well described by Förster long-range energy transfer when both donor-donor and donor-acceptor energy transfer are considered. In the liquid crystalline phase diffusion of the molecules is described as well as energy transfer. The interaction radiusR 0 for energy transfer from perylene to Co2+ is found to be ∼13.4±1.1 Å in the gel phase at 303 K, in good agreement with the theoretical value forR 0 of 13.9 Å. In the liquid crystalline phase at 323 K the lower value obtained forR 0, ∼11.3±1.6 Å, is attributed to saturation of the Co2+ ions at the interfacial region of the bilayer. A diffusion coefficient of (1.06±0.15)×10−6 cm2 s−1 is obtained for perylene-cobalt diffusion in the liquid crystalline phase at 323K.

A rapid epifluorescence staining method using the LIVE/DEAD® BacLight™ Bacterial Viability kit was applied to differentiate both viable and total counts of acetic acid bacteria in vinegar fermentation. The results obtained were compared with those from other measurement techniques: 4′,6-diamidine-2phenyl indole (DAPI) and 5-cyano-2,3-ditolyl tetrazolium chloride (CTC) and colony counts. BacLight total counts were comparable to DAPI (differing by <3.5%). BacLight viable counts were similar to CTC counts but considerable higher than colony-forming cells in plates.

The present study aimed to develop a carbon dots-based fluorescence (FL) sensor that can detect more than one pollutant simultaneously in the same aqueous solution. The carbon dots-based FL sensor has been prepared by employing a facile hydrothermal method using citric acid and ethylenediamine as precursors. The as-synthesized CDs displayed excellent hydrophilicity, good photostability and blue fluorescence under UV light. They have been used as an efficient “turn-off” FL sensor for dual sensing of Fe3+ and Hg2+ ions in an aqueous medium with high sensitivity and selectivity through a static quenching mechanism. The lowest limit of detection (LOD) for Fe3+ and Hg2+ ions was found to be 0.406 µM and 0.934 µM, respectively over the concentration range of 0-50 µM. Therefore, the present work provides an effective strategy to monitor the concentration of Fe3+ and Hg2+ ions simultaneously in an aqueous medium using environment-friendly CDs.

We report the results on the spectroscopic properties of a new fluorescent lipophilic probes. Basic photophysical characteristics of the novel benzanthrone 3-amino-derivatives such as the absorption and fluorescence maxima, extinction coefficient, Stokes shift, fluorescence intensity were measured in benzene, chloroform and ethanol solutions. Novel benzanthrone 3-N-derivatives show bright fluorescence and are quite sensitive to the surrounding environment. The behaviour of the investigated benzanthrone derivatives was dependent on the polarity of the medium showing strong fluorescent solvatochromism arising from the donor–acceptor nature of the benzanthrone carbonyl group and electron-rich substituted amino group.

The newly synthesized three coumarin pyrazole hybrid excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) dyes show efficient charge transfer from the pyrazole ring and the coumarin towards the electron withdrawing dicyanovinylene group as revealed from the frontier molecular orbitals. Aggregation induced emission enhancement (AIEE) studies with 2-((3-(4-hydroxy-2-oxo-2H-chromen-3-yl)-1-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)methylene) malononitrile showed 9 fold increase in the emission enhancement in 90% DMF-H2O mixture. Lippert-Mataga theory explained the solvatochromic behavior of the dyes in various solvents. The charge transfer characteristics and non-linear optical (NLO) properties have been supported and correlated with bond length alternation, bond order alternation and vibrational spectrum. As values of bond order alternation (BOA) tend to be more towards negative and as the value of α increases β decreases while the values of γ depends on the values of α and β. The observed values of γ are positive which revealed that β contributes significantly. The dyes exhibit linear and NLO properties superior to urea. (E)-2-(3-(2-(3-(4-Hydroxy-2-oxo-2H-chromen-3-yl)-1-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)vinyl)-5,5-dimethylcyclohex-2-en-1-ylidene) malononitrile shows enhanced linear and non-linear properties among the three dyes.

A novel fiber-optic evanescent wave sensor (FOEWS) for O2 detection based on [Ru(bpy)3]2+-doped hybrid fluorinated ORMOSILs (organically modified silicates) has been developed. The sensing element was fabricated by dip-coating the optical fiber with [Ru(bpy)3]2+-doped hybrid fluorinated ORMOSILs composed of n-propyltrimethoxysilane (n-propyl-TriMOS) and 3, 3, 3-trifluoropropyltrimethoxysilane (TFP–TriMOS). Fluorophores of [Ru(bpy)3]2+ were excited by the evanescent wave field produced on the fiber core surface and the emission fluorescence was quenched by O2. Spectroscopic properties have been characterized by FTIR and UV–VIS absorption measurements. By using the presented hybrid fluorinated ORMOSILs, which enhances the coating surface hydrophobicity, the quenching response is increased. The sensitivity of the sensor is 7.5, which is quantified in terms of the ratio I N2/I O2 (I N2 and I O2 represent the fluorescence intensities in pure N2 and pure O2 environments, respectively). The limit of detection (L.O.D.) is 0.01% (3σ) and the response time is about 1 s. Meanwhile, the proposed FOEWS has the advantages of easy fabrication, low cost, fast response and suitable sensitivity for oxygen monitoring using a cheap blue LED as light source and coupling a miniature PMT detector directly to the optical fiber probe.

The comparative study of the crystal structures of benzoylacetonato- (1), p-toluylacetonato- (2) and p-ethylbenzoylacetonatoboron (3) difluoride was carried out. Correlation of the luminescence properties of the complexes 1–3 and their crystal structures was revealed. The excimer formation in these compounds occurred the most efficiently for the complexes 1 characterized by the formation of stacks of molecules, unlike the complex 3, where individual dimers behaved as excimer-forming centers. The maximal fluorescence intensity was observed for the complex 2, which had the highest structural ordering.

Using quenching of Trp fluorescence by different dyes, bound to bovine serum albumin, it is shown that the spectral overlap between emission and absorption spectra does not necessarily lead to energy transfer as the sole quenching mechanism. A correlation of the limiting quenching value with the Förster overlap integral was not observed. The energy transfer efficiency was less than the quenching efficiency because of competitive radiationless deactivation processes induced by dye binding.