Fluorescence, depolarization spectroscopy

Characterization of Aquatic Humic Acid Fractions by Fluorescence Depolarization Spectroscopy... 

This chapter presents new information about the physical properties of humic acid fractions from the Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia. Specialized techniques of fluorescence depolarization spectroscopy and phase-shift fluorometry allow the nondestructive determination of molar volume and shape in aqueous solutions. The techniques also provide sufficient data to make a reliable estimate of the number of different fluorophores in the molecule their respective excitation and emission spectra, and their phase-resolved emission spectra. These measurements are possible even in instances where two fluorophores have nearly identical emission specta. The general theoretical background of each method is presented first, followed by the specific results of our measurements. Parts of the theoretical treatment of depolarization and phase-shift fluorometry given here are more fully expanded upon in (5,9-ll). Recent work and reviews of these techniques are given by Warner and McGown (72). 

Steady-State Fluorescence Depolarization Spectroscopy. For steady state depolarization measurements, the sample is excited with linearly polarized lig t of constant intensity. Observed values of P depend on the angle between the absorption and emission dipole moment vectors. In equation 2 (9), Po is the limiting value of polarization for a dilute solution of fluorophores randomly oriented in a rigid medium that permits no rotation and no energy transfer to other fluorophores ... 

Analysis of experiments which monitor the rate of excitation transport among naphthyl chromophores in low concentration on isolated coils of poly-(2-vinylnaphthalene-co-methyl methacrylate) in poly-(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) host by time-resolved fluorescence depolarization spectroscopy allows the quantitative detemination of the copolymer... 

The rapid decay of absorption of excited states on the ps time scale has been measured for pyrazolotriazole azomethine dyes. The molecular orientation dynamics of polar dye probes in t-butanol-water mixtures have been determined by ps fluorescence depolarization spectroscopy. Dyes studied in this investigation were the monocations nile blue and thionine, resorufin a monoanion, and nile red a polar but neutral molecule. A very detailed ps study of rotational diffusion of excited states of merocyanine-540 in polar solvents, has also been reported . 

The next section, structure-rheology-texture relationships, deals with the quantification and modeling of the structure and the mechanical properties of lipid networks, and then examines cocoa butter and milkfat within this general framework. The chapter on milkfat focuses on the effects of the minor components contained in native milkfat on structure formation and final mechanical properties. This section also contains a chapter on the use of fluorescence depolarization spectroscopy as a tool to determine microviscosity and structural order in lipid systems and an overview of the texture of fat systems. 

Lipari G. and Szabo A. (1980) Effect of Vibrational Motion on Fluorescence Depolarization and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Relaxation in Macromolecules and Membranes, Biophys. J. 30, 489—506. Steiner R. F. (1991) Fluorescence Anisotropy Theory and Applications, in Lakowicz J. R. (Ed.), Topics in Fluorescence Spectroscopy, Vol. 2, Principles, Plenum Press, New York, pp. 127-176. 

Physico-chemical properties. In the fifties and sixties, several studies on the conformation of ACTH in solution were carried out. Among the used techniques were ORD, CD, fluorescence depolarization studies and kinetics of deuterium hydrogen exchange (for a review see ref. 2). The results pointed to a highly flexible random coil in solution however, Eisinger (40) found that the distance between Tyr and Trp [in ACTH-(1-24)] as measured by excitation spectroscopy, was in better agreement with some form of loop or helical structure. In addition. Squire and Bewley noted 11-15% helical content, located in the N-terminal 1-11 part of the molecule, when measuring the ORD of ACTH at pH 8.1 (41) (a random coil was found at neutral and acidic pH values, 2). 

The rotational reorientation times of the sample in several solvents at room temperature were measured by picosecond time-resolved fluorescence and absorption depolarization spectroscopy. Details of our experimental setups were described elsewhere. For the time-correlated single photon counting measurement of which the response time is a ut 40 ps, the sample solution was excited with a second harmonics of a femtosecond Ti sapphire laser (370 nm) and the fluorescence polarized parallel and perpendicular to the direction of the excitation pulse polarization as well as the magic angle one were monitored. The second harmonics of the rhodamine-640 dye laser (313 nm 10 ps FWHM) was used to raesisure the polarized transient absorption spectra. The synthesis of the sample is given elsewhere. All the solvents of spectro-grade were used without further purification. 

A brief review and reassessment of data on the photophysics of benzene has been presented by Pereira. Evidence for the l E2g valence state has been obtained by u.v. two-photon spectroscopy.Slow electron impact excites fluorescence in thin films of benzene at 77 K as well as emission from isomers." The fluorescence yields and quenching by chloroform of alkyl-benzenes and 1-methylnaphthalene after excitation into Si, Sz, and S3 states and after photoionization have been measured. The channel-three process has been reconsidered in terms of the effects of local modes and Morse oscillator potentials. Excited-state dipole moments of some monosubstituted benzenes have been estimated from solvent effects on electronic absorption spectra, Structural imperfections influence the photochemistry of durene in crystals at low temperatures. Relaxation time studies on excited oxido-substituted p-oligophenylenes have been made by fluorescence depolarization... 

Time dependent fluorescence depolarization is influenced by the exciton annihilation which occurs in confined molecular domains . Photoemission results from singlet exciton fusion as shown by the excitation intensity dependence which occurs in anthracene crystals. Reabsorption of excitonic luminescence is an effect which has been shown to occur in pyrene crystals. The dynamics of exciton trapping in p-methylnaphthalene doped naphthalene crystals involves phonon assisted detrapping of electronic energy. Ps time resolved spectroscopy was the experimental technique used in this work. 

Various spectroscopic techniques and probes have been used to investigate solubilization of probe molecules, mostly using UV/visible spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, ESR spectroscopy [64, 74, 217, 287] and NMR-spectro-scopy [367-369]. Fluorescence spectroscopy is particularly versatile [370], as various static and dynamic aspects can be covered by studying excitation and emission spectra, excimer or exciplex formation, quantum yields, quenching, fluorescence life-times, fluorescence depolarization, energy transfer etc. 

We have studied the low-light B800-850 complexes (isolated and in membranes) with polarized light spectroscopy (room temperature and 77K CD, LD, absorption and fluorescence depolarization) to get a better understanding of the pigment organization in these complexes. 

Most current models for ener transfer and trapping in the antenna of purple nonsulfur bacteria involve excitations visiting many reaction centers before trapping occurs. This so-called lake model has been supported by a variety of observations including singlet-singlet annihilation studies (1-3), low intensity picosecond absorption spectroscopy (4), and fluorescence depolarization studies (5). 

In a series of papers (24-29) Eicke and co-workers reported results of thorough studies performed on inverse micellar systems involving hydrocarbons such as benzene or isooctane and surfactants such as AY or AOT aerosols. Dielectric, conductance, ultracentrifugation, NMR, light scattering, fluorescence depolarization and photon correlation spectroscopy techniques were used. The main conclusions arrived at are the following ones, as expressed in C29). For water-to-AOT molar ratios smaller than 10, water-in-isooctane systems consist of dispersions of hydrated soap aggre-... 

Evidence for mobility within proteins comes from a variety of physical methods single crystal X-ray or neutron diffraction, electron microscopy, and spectroscopic techniques such as NMR, fluorescence depolarization, Mossbauer spectroscopy and H-exchange studies. Theoretical approaches such as potential-energy minimization and molecular-dynamics calculations may also be used to study flexibility. An illustration of the frequency range of the various thermal motions detected in proteins is given in Table 1. 

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