Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy chemical kinetics

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments are used to study the exchange kinetics of chemical systems in equilibrium.28,68,69 As is the case for fluorescence correlation spectroscopy no perturbation of the chemical system in equilibrium is required to obtain kinetic information from NMR experiments. However, NMR is not very sensitive to concentration changes. 

In fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), the temporal fluctuations of the fluorescence intensity are recorded and analyzed in order to determine physical or chemical parameters such as translational diffusion coefficients, flow rates, chemical kinetic rate constants, rotational diffusion coefficients, molecular weights and aggregation. The principles of FCS for the determination of translational and rotational diffusion and chemical reactions were first described in the early 1970s. But it is only in the early 1990s that progress in instrumentation (confocal excitation, photon detection and correlation) generated renewed interest in FCS. 

Madge D. (1976) Chemical Kinetics and Applications of Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy, Quart. Rev. Biophys. 9, 35—47. 

Petersen N. O. and Elson E. L. (1986) Measurements of Diffusion and Chemical Kinetics by Fluorescence Photobleaching Recovery and Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy Methods Enzymol. 130, 454-84. 

Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy and Fluorescence Burst Analysis. Several nanoscopic chemical imaging approaches work very well for measurements of chemical kinetics, interactions, and mobility in solution. Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) measures the temporal fluctuations of fluorescent markers as molecules diffuse or flow in solution through a femtoliter focal volume.54 Their average diffusive dwell times reveal their diffusion coefficients, and additional faster fluctuations can reveal chemical reactions and their kinetics if the reaction provides fluorescence modulation. Cross-correlation of the fluorescence of two distinguishable fluorophore types can very effectively reveal chemical binding kinetics and equilibria at nanomolar concentrations. 

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