Fluorescein quenching

Utilization of resonance effects can facilitate unenhanced Raman measurement of surfaces and make the technique more versatile. For instance, a fluorescein derivative and another dye were used as resonantly Raman scattering labels for hydroxyl and carbonyl groups on glassy carbon surfaces. The labels were covalently bonded to the surface, their fluorescence was quenched by the carbon surface, and their resonance Raman spectra could be observed at surface coverages of approximately 1%. These labels enabled assess to changes in surface coverage by C-OH and C=0 with acidic or alkaline pretreatment [4.293]. 

Table I describes several of the fluorescent assays that have been used in our lab to study neutrophil activation. Fluorescein-labeled W-formylhexapeptide (FLPEP) has been used to characterize the ki- netics of ligand binding, dissociation, and internalization at 37°C (7,8). FLPEP is added to a suspension of cells, then receptor-bound and free FLPEP in solution are distinguished by adding antibody to fluorescein. This is a high-affinity antibody which binds free FLPEP within 1 s hut does not bind cell-bound FLPEP. When it binds the FLPEP, it quenches the fluorescein fluorescence. Hence the residual fluorescence after antibody addition represents FLPEP that is bound to the cell. Nonspecific binding is determined in cell suspensions that contain an excess of nonfluorescent peptide.

Miki M, Dosremedios CG (1988) Fluorescence quenching studies of fluorescein attached to Lys-61 or Cys-374 in actin effects of polymerization, myosin subfragment-1 binding, and tropomyosin-troponin binding. J Biochem Tokyo 104 232-235... 

Fig. 6.21. Principle of detection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) with the CD14-derived probe. It relies on the formation of a ground state complex between fluorescein and rhodamine in aqueous solution with quenching of donor and acceptor fluorescence. Spectrum A shows hypothetical fluorescence emission spectra of this complex. After LPS binding, the peptide sequence gets straightened prohibiting the close contact between the two fluorophores and leading to the recovery of red fluorescence (Spectra B).

In choosing a fluorescent tag, the most important factors to consider are good adsorption (high extinction coefficient), stable excitation without photobleaching, and efficient, high quantum yield of fluorescence. Some fluorophores, such as fluorescein, exhibit rapid fluorescent quenching which lowers the quantum yield over time. Up to 50 percent of the fluorescent intensity observed on a fluorescein-stained slide can be lost within 1 month in storage. AMCA and... 

In 1888, Walter studied the quenching of fluorescence, by the concentration effect, of fluorescein solutions. Nicols and Merrit observed in 1907, in solutions of eosine and resoruflne, the symmetry existing between their absorption and fluorescence spectra. In 1910, Ley and Engelhardt determined the fluorescence quantum yield of various benzene derivatives, values that were still referred to until recent years [18], The works by Lehmann and Wood, around 1910, marked the beginning of analysis based on fluorescence [4],... 

Since the same dye molecules can serve as both donors and acceptors and the transfer efficiency depends on the spectral overlap between the emission spectrum of the donor and the absorption spectrum of the acceptor, this efficiency also depends on the Stokes shift [53]. Involvement of these effects depends strongly on the properties of the dye. Fluoresceins and rhodamines exhibit high homo-FRET efficiency and self-quenching pyrene and perylene derivatives, high homo-FRET but little self-quenching and luminescent metal complexes may not exhibit homo-FRET at all because of their very strong Stokes shifts. 

Figure 5 shows two typical core-shell structures (a) contains a metal core and a dye doped silica shell [30, 32, 33, 78-85] and (b) has a dye doped silica core and a metal shell [31, 34]. There is a spacer between the core and the shell to maintain the distance between the fluorophores and the metal to avoid fluorescence quenching [30, 32, 33, 78-80, 83]. Usually, the spacer is a silica layer in this type of nanostructures. Various Ag and Au nanomaterials in different shapes have been used for fluorescence enhancement. Occasionally, Pt and Au-Ag alloys are selected as the metal. A few fluorophores have been studied in these two core-shell structures including Cy3 [30], cascade yellow [78], carboxyfluorescein [78], Ru(bpy)32+ [31, 34], R6G [34], fluorescein isothiocyanate [79], Rhodamine 800 [32, 33], Alexa Fluor 647 [32], NIR 797 [82], dansylamide [84], oxazin 725 [85], and Eu3+ complexes [33, 83]. 

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