The interaction of amino acids with macrocyclic pH probes of pseudopeptidic nature.

The fluorescence quenching, by a series of amino acids, of pseudopeptidic compounds acting as probes for cellular acidity has been investigated. It has been found that amino acids containing electron-rich aromatic side chains like Trp or Tyr, as well as Met quench the emission of the probes mainly via a collisional mechanism, with Stern-Volmer constants in the 7-43 M-1 range, while other amino acids such as His, Val or Phe did not cause deactivation of the fluorescence. Only a minor contribution of a static quenching due to the formation of ground-state complexes has been found for Trp and Tyr, with association constants in the 9-24 M-1 range. For these ground-state complexes, a comparison between the macrocyclic probes and an open chain analogue reveals the existence of a moderate macrocyclic effect due to the preorganization of the probes in the more rigid structure.

Fluorescent macrocyclic probes with pendant functional groups as markers of acidic organelles within live cells.

A new family of acidity sensitive fluorescent macrocycles has been synthesized and fully characterized. Their photophysical properties including emission quantum yield and fluorescence lifetime have been determined. The acid-base properties of the new molecules can be tuned by the incorporation of pendant functional groups. The nature of such functional groups (carboxylic acid or ester) influences dramatically the pKa of the probes, two compounds of which exhibit low values. Preliminary intracellular studies using confocal microscopy together with emission spectra of the probes from the cellular environment have shown that the synthesized fluorescent macrocycles mark the acidic organelles of RAW 264.7 macrophage cells.

Photoluminescence enhancement of CdSe quantum dots: a case of organogel-nanoparticle symbiosis.

Highly fluorescent organogels (QD-organogel), prepared by combining a pseudopeptidic macrocycle and different types of CdSe quantum dots (QDs), have been characterized using a battery of optical and microscopic techniques. The results indicate that the presence of the QDs not only does not disrupt the supramolecular organization of the internal fibrillar network of the organogel to a significant extent, but it also decreases the critical concentration of gelator needed to form stable and thermoreversible organogels. Regarding the photophysical properties of the QDs, different trends were observed depending on the presence of a ZnS inorganic shell around the CdSe core. Thus, while the core-shell QDs preserve their photophysical properties in the organogel medium, a high to moderate increase of the fluorescence intensity (up to 528%) and the average lifetime (up to 1.7), respectively, was observed for the core QDs embedded in the organogel. The results are relevant for the development of luminescent organogels based on quantum dots, which have potential applications as advanced hybrid materials in different fields.