Synthesis and spectral luminescent characteristics of the porphyrin complexes with the platinum group metals

The syntheses of complexes of natural and synthetic porphyrins with Pt, Pd, Rh, and Ru are reported. Their electronic absorption spectra, phosphorescence spectra, and lifetimes at room temperature both in the presence and in the absence of oxygen were studied. Variations in the nature of the central metal atom and in the substituents in pyrrol and phenyl rings allow the obtaining of metalloporphyrins phosphorescing at room temperature with various phosphorescence excitation and emission spectra.     

The fine structure of luminescence spectra of azurin.

The spectra of azurin absorption, fluorescence, phosphorescence and fluorescence excitation have been measured in aqueous solutions at ordinary and liquid nitrogen temperatures. The fluorescence spectra of azurin even at ordinary temperatures have a well resolved fine vibrational structure. The frequency analysis reveals practically the same wave number distances between the main structure peaks in fluorescence spectra at room and low temperatures and in phosphorescence spectra. The comparison of the protein absorption and excitation spectra shows that all the energy absorbed by tyrosine residues is transferred onto indole chromophore. These data suggest an unusual tryptophan environment in this protein, which is characterized by the absence of any hydrogen bonding or other polar interaction of tryptophan with its environment. The problem of the possibility of contributions of two electronic transitions (1La in equilibrium A and 1Lb in equilibrium A) in absorption and emission spectra of azurin tryptophan arising from their mirror symmetry is discussed.     

Phosphorescent analysis of lipid peroxidation products in isolated human erythrocyte membranes

The room temperature phosphorescence of lipid peroxidation products in the composition of isolated human erythrocyte membranes was registered, and its kinetic parameters were determined. The excitation and emission spectra of phosphorescence of lipid peroxidation products in the composition of erythrocyte membranes at 0 degree C measured. The nature of lipid peroxidation products possessing the phosphorescencing capacity was discussed. Based on the analysis of temperature dependences of the intensity and lifetimes of phosphorescence of lipid peroxidation products in the range -2 divided by 26 degrees C, it is concluded that the deactivation of excited triplet states of lipid chromophores was realized by the dynamic type.     

Phosphorescence of protochlorophyll(ide) and chlorophyll(ide) in etiolated and greening bean leaves

The assignment is presented for the principal phosphorescence bands of protochlorophyll(ide), chlorophyllide and chlorophyll in etiolated and greening bean leaves measured at -196°C using a mechanical phosphoroscope. Protochlorophyll(ide) phosophorescence spectra in etiolated leaves consist of three bands with maxima at 870, 920 and 970 nm. Excitation spectra show that the 870 nm band belongs to the short wavelength protochlorophyll(ide), P627. The latter two bands correspond to the protochlorophyll(ide) forms, P637 and P650. The overall quantum yield for P650 phosphorescence in etiolated leaves is near to that in solutions of monomeric protochlorophyll, indicating a rather high efficiency of the protochlorophyll(ide) triplet state formation in frozen plant material. Short-term (2–20 min) illumination of etiolated leaves at the temperature range from -30 to 20°C leads to the appearance of new phosphorescence bands at about 990–1000 and 940 nm. Judging from excitation and emission spectra, the former band belongs to aggregated chlorophyllide, the latter one, to monomeric chlorophyll or chlorophyllide. This indicates that both monomeric and aggregated pigments are formed at this stage of leaf greening. After preillumination for 1 h at room temperature, chlorophyll phosphorescence predominates. The spectral maximum of this phosphorescence is at 955–960 nm, the lifetime is about 2 ms, and the maximum of the excitation spectrum lies at 668 nm. Further greening leads to a sharp drop of the chlorophyll phosphorescence intensity and to a shift of the phosphorescence maximum to 980 nm, while the phosphorescence lifetime and a maximum of the phosphorescence excitation spectrum remains unaltered. The data suggest that chlorophyll phosphorescence belongs to the short wavelength, newly synthesized chlorophyll, not bound to chloroplast carotenoids. Thus, the phosphorescence measurement can be efficiently used to study newly formed chlorophyll and its precursors in etiolated and greening leaves and to address various problems arising in the analysis of chlorophyll biosynthesis.Abbreviations Pchl protochlorophyll and protochlorophyllide - Chld chlorophyllide - Chl chlorophyll     

Indoles and auxins. I. Spectrophosphorimetry of some natural and synthetic indoles

Phosphorescence characteristics and fluorescence spectra at room temperature and 77°K of 5 indole compounds relevant to 3-indoleacetic acid metabolism have been recorded. Three of these samples were extracted from a biological source and compared to synthetic derivatives.The phosphorescence spectrum of these compounds is very characteristic for the indole chromophore and superior to the fluorescence spectrum for its detection.For the closely related compounds I–V the phosphorescence characteristics are not sufficiently different from each other to allow unambiguous identification.     

Phosphorescence properties of Trp-84 and Trp-310 in glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase from Bacillus stearothermophilus

The phosphorescence spectra of Trp-84 and Trp-310 in glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase from Bacillus stearothermophilus in an aqueous glass show distinct 0,0 vibrational bands with peaks at 406.5 and 410.5 nm. With the aid of external heavy-atom perturbation of iodide and the thermal quenching profile, it is concluded that although both chromophores are effectively buried, only one, viz., the 406.5 nm component, is embedded in a sufficiently rigid core of the protein to phosphoresce in fluid solutions at room temperature. From inspection of the crystallographic structure is it evident that only Trp-310 embedded in the beta-sheet of the catalytic domain may satisfy the requirements of a long triplet-state lifetime and slow migration of O2 to its site. This identification confirms previous analysis of the phosphorescence properties of the enzymes from yeast, pig and rabbit muscle.     

Phosphorescence of octaethylchlorine, isobacteriooctaethylchlorine and their metal complexes]

The phosphorescence of dihydrooctaethylporphin (octaethylchlorin or OEC), of its complexes with magnesium, zinc, copper and palladium, and of zinc and palladium complexes of isobacteriooctaethylchlorin (5,6,7,8-tetrahydrooctaethylporphin with adjacent hydrogenated pyrrole rings or THOEP-ADJ) has been investigated. The phosphorescence spectra and phosphorescence excitation spectra as well as the ratio of fluorescence and phosphorescence yields and the triplet state lifetume have been measured. It has been shown that the singlet-triplet interval is about 4100 cm-1 for OEC complexes and about 4300 cm-1 for THOEP-ADJ complexes, and depends wealky on the nature of the metal atom forming the complex. The triplet level position of chlorophyll alpha is discussed. It is concluded that the maximum of chlorophyll alpha phosphorescence spectrum must be located at 895 nm.     

Tryptophan phosphorescence of the Ca2+-ATPase of sarcoplasmic reticulum

Phosphorescence of protein tryptophan was analyzed in sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles, and in the purified Ca2+ transport ATPase in deoxygenated aqueous solutions at room temperature. Upon excitation with light of 295 nm wavelength, the emission maxima of fluorescence and phosphorescence were at 330 nm and at 445 nm, respectively. The phosphorescence decay was multiexponential; the lifetime of the long-lived component of phosphorescence was approximately equal to 22 ms. ATP and vandate significantly reduced the phosphorescence in the presence of either Ca2+ or EGTA; ADP was less effective, while AMP was without effect. The quenching by ATP showed saturation consistent with the idea that the ATP-enzyme complex had a lower phosphorescence yield. Upon exhaustion of ATP, the phosphorescence returned to starting level. Significant quenching of phosphorescence with a decrease in phosphorescence lifetime was also caused by NaNO2, methylvinyl ketone and trichloroacetate, without effect on ATPase activity; this quenching did not show saturation and was therefore probably collisional in nature.     

The luminescence properties of concanavalin A.

1. The luminescence properties of native concanavalin A, both at room temperature and at 77 degrees K, are similar to those of other proteins containing tyrosine and tryptophan. 2. Binding of methyl alpha-D-glucopyranoside to concanavalin A causes a slight reduction of its fluorescence at room temperature. 3. Removal of Mn2+ and Ca2+ ions from concanavalin A causes a small increase in its fluoresence. The fluorescence: phosphorescence ratio and phosphorescence lifetime of apo-concanavalin A are similar to those of tryptophan. 4. Denaturation of concanavalin A by urea and by guanidine hydrochloride apparently takes place in two stages. Apo-concanavalin A is more easily denatured than the native molecule, but concavalin A combined with methyl alpha-D-glucopyranoside is more resistant to denaturation. 5. The luminescence properties of concanavalin A are pH-dependent. 6. The results have been interpreted in terms of the known structure and properties of concanavalin A.     

Phosphorescence properties and protein structure surrounding tryptophan residues in yeast, pig, and rabbit glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase

An investigation of the phosphorescence emission properties of tryptophan (Trp) was carried out in glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase from yeast and from pig and rabbit muscle. Aided by the external heavy-atom effect of iodide, the dependence on excitation wavelength, and thermal quenching profiles, it was established that the 0,0 vibronic band peaked at 406 nm in the pig and rabbit proteins is made up of overlapping contributions from two Trp residues. In contrast to a previous report [Davis, J.M., & Maki, A.H. (1984) Biochemistry 23, 6249-6256], this implies that even in the muscle enzymes all three aromatic side chains are phosphorescent. Further, when the nature of the local environment of each residue is compared to the crystallographic structure of lobster GPDH, it leads to a complete new assignment of the individual phosphorescence spectra. With each protein, a single Trp, identified as Trp-310, was found to display long-lived phosphorescence at room temperature. The decay of this emission gives evidence of conformational homogeneity among the subunits of the tetrameric molecule.     

Phosphorimetric method to determine Zn-porphyrins in microorganisms and biological liquids

A phosphorimetric technique of direct quantitative determination of Zn-porphyrins in microorganisms and biological liquids is described. The technique is based on the registration of visible light-induced afterglow and phosphorescence of Zn-porphyrins at room temperature under anaerobic conditions. The sensitivity of the technique is not less than 10(-8) M. Certain types of Zn-porphyrins can be identified with respect to the spectra of excitation and radiation of afterglow. The technique has been applied to study the afterglow of microorganisms (E. coli, St. aureus, B. subtilis, B. pioceaneum, M. tuberculosis) and of milk, serum, and urine.     

Reactions of excited triplet states of metal substituted myoglobin with dioxygen and quinone.

The triplet state absorption and phosphorescence of Zn and Pd derivatives of myoglobin were compared. Both metal derivatives exhibit long triplet state lifetimes at room temperature, but whereas the Pd derivative showed exponential decay and an isosbestic point in the transient absorption spectra, the decay of the Zn derivative was nonsingle exponential and the transient absorption spectra showed evidence of more than one excited state species. No difference was seen in triplet quenching by oxygen for either derivative, indicating that differences in the polypeptide chain between the two derivatives are not large enough to affect oxygen penetrability. Quenching was also observed by anthraquinone sulfonate. In this case, the possibility of long-range transfer by an exchange mechanism is considered.     

Characterization of lens alpha-crystallin tryptophan microenvironments by room temperature phosphorescence spectroscopy

Room temperature phosphorescence techniques were used to study the structural and dynamic features of the tryptophan residues in bovine alpha-crystallin. Upon excitation at 290 nm, the characteristic signature of tryptophan phosphorescence was observed with an emission maximum at 442 +/- 2 nm. The phosphorescence intensity decay was biphasic with lifetimes of 5.4 ms (71%) and 42 ms (29%). Phosphorescence quenching measurements strongly suggest that each component corresponds to one class of tryptophans with the more buried residues having the longer emission lifetime. Three small-molecule quenchers were surveyed, and in order of increasing quenching efficiency: iodide less than nitrite less than acrylamide. A heavy-atom effect was observed in iodide solutions, and an upper limit of 5% was placed on the quantum yield of triplet formation in iodide-free solutions, while the phosphorescence quantum yield was estimated to be approximately 3.2 x 10(-4). The temperature dependence of the phosphorescence lifetime was measured between 5 and 40 degrees C. Arrhenius plots exhibited discontinuities at 26 and 29 degrees C for the short- and long-lived components, respectively, corresponding to abrupt transitions in segmental flexibility. Denaturation studies revealed conformational transitions between 1 and 2 M guanidine hydrochloride, and 4 and 6 M urea. Long-lived phosphorescence lifetimes of 3 and 7 ms were measured in 6 M guanidine hydrochloride and 8 M urea, respectively, suggesting that some structural features are preserved even at very high concentrations of denaturant. Our studies demonstrate the sensitivity of room temperature phosphorescence spectroscopy to the structure of alpha-crystallin, and the applicability of this technique for monitoring conformational changes in lens crystallin proteins.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Phosphorescent analysis of lipid peroxidation products in liposomes]

It was found that lipid peroxidation products incorporated into liposomes prepared from oxidized preparations of bovine heart phosphatidylcholine and the total lipid fraction of human erythrocyte membranes are able to phosphoresce at room temperature was studied. The temperature dependences of kinetic and spectral parameters of phosphorescence were measured. It is shown that mechanism of phosphorescence quenching of lipid chromophores has a dynamic nature. It is proposed to use endogenic molecules of the lipid peroxidation products capable of phosphorescence as intrinsic phosphorescence probes for studying the slow molecular dynamics of lipids in artificial and biological membranes in a millisecond range.     

Photochemistry of 2-acyloxycarbazoles. A potential tool in the synthesis of carbazole alkaloids.

The photochemistry of two 2-acyloxycarbazoles, 2-acetyl- and 2-benzoyloxycarbazole, in different solvents has been studied. Irradiation of the 2-acyloxycarbazoles in organic media at 254 or 313 nm yields the [1,3]-migrated photoproducts, 1-acyl-2-hydroxycarbazole, 3-acyl-2-hydroxycarbazole and 2-hydroxycarbazole. The effects of the solvent, the atmosphere and the intensity of the light source on the photochemistry of 2-acyloxycarbazole have been studied. Laser flash photolysis as well as photosensitization experiments were performed in order to determine the photoreactive excited state. Electronic spectra (absorption, fluorescence and phosphorescence emission spectra) of the 2-acyloxycarbazoles have been recorded in homogeneous media at 298 K and in solid matrices at 77 K. The dynamic properties of the lowest singlet excited state in terms of fluorescence lifetime and fluorescence quantum yield have been measured in different organic solvents at room temperature. The photo-Fries rearrangement as a mild and clean one-pot reaction for the preparation of an advanced intermediate precursor in the total synthesis of carbazole alkaloids is described.     

Optically detected magnetic resonance of the phosphorescent bases of Escherichia coli valine-specific transfer ribonucleic acid

Phosphorescence spectroscopy and optical detection of triplet state magnetic resonance (ODMR) spectroscopy have been used to characterize bases that contribute to the phosphorescence emission of Escherichia coli valine-specific transfer ribonucleic acid. When it is excited with 335-nm light, a short-lived phosphorescence with an origin near 435 nm is observed and is assigned to 4-thiouridine (s4U) at position 8 of the tRNA sequence. With excitation at 290-300 nm, a structured, long-lived phosphorescence is observed with an origin near 380 nm, in addition to the s4U phosphorescence. Comparison was made of the phosphorescence and ODMR spectra between Mg2+-containing and Mg2+-free tRNA samples. The s4U phosphorescence of the Mg2+-containing sample is more structured, and the peak is blue shifted relative to the Mg2+-free sample. Both samples give a single low-frequency (ca. 2.9 GHz) ODMR signal, but the high-frequency signal region (ca. 19-20 GHz) is structured. The Mg2+-containing sample has a partially resolved group of lines centered at 19.3 GHz, whereas the Mg2+-free sample has two broad bands centered at 19.2 and 20.0 gHz. The differences are attributed to effects of Mg2+ on the tRNA conformation. The ODMR signals observed by monitoring the long-lived phosphorescence are assigned to a pyrimidine nucleoside, possibly 5-(carboxy-methoxy)uridine in the anticodon.     

Assessment of molecularly imprinted sol-gel materials for selective room temperature phosphorescence recognition of nafcillin

Sol-gel imprinted materials were prepared against nafcillin, a semisynthetic beta-lactamic antibiotic employed in the treatment of serious infections caused by penicillinase-producing staphylococci. Two approaches were addressed for preparation of the imprinted materials and the controls: as conventional monoliths, which were ground and sieved to a desired particle size for rebinding analysis, and as films on supporting glass slides. The specific binding sites that are created during the imprinting process are analyzed via selective room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) (sol-gel films) measurements as well as via competitive room temperature phosphorescence ligand assay. Results demonstrated the importance of the physical configuration of the imprinted material for minimizing non-specific binding. The close similarities between the structures of different beta-lactamic antibiotics made it possible to interpret the roles of the template structure on specific molecular recognition. In this article, we introduce the use of room temperature phosphorescence as selective transduction method for the template. The imprinted sol-gel films displayed enhanced specific binding characteristics respect to the monolithic sol-gel and can be envisaged for the use as recognition matrices for the screening and rapid selection of antibiotics from a combinatorial library or for the rapid control of nafcillin in biological samples (e.g. milk, serum, urine).     

Phosphorimeters for analysis of decay profiles and real time monitoring of exponential decay and oxygen concentrations

A phosphorimeter which can be assembled at low cost from mainly commercially available components and which has better time resolution, data acquisition rate, sensitivity, and flexibility than commercially available instruments is described. As a phosphorescence analyzer the instrument can measure phosphorescence lifetimes ranging from approximately 30 microseconds to seconds from samples with variable intensity, excitation, and emission spectra and which may follow complex decay behavior. Configured as a phosphorescence monitor it is designed for fast, repetitive calculation of phosphorescence lifetime, assuming single-exponential decay, and can be used to calculate oxygen concentration in biological samples in real time.     

Cytochrome c degrading activity in rat liver mitochondria

Benzophenone can be used as an extrinsic triplet state probe, as its phosphorescence, a broad band centered at 445 nm, is readily observable in aqueous solution at room temperature. When bound covalently as an acyl enzyme at the active site of chymotrypsin, the benzophenone probe produces phosphorescence which is unusually resistant to quenching by O₂, $\text{trans}$-cinnamic acid, and H₃O⁺. Sodium 2-naphthalenesulfonate quenches the phosphorescence, probably indirectly. The quenching data indicate that the local protein structure at the enzyme active site provides a rigid and protective substrate environment, which is not penetrated by even the smallest triplet quenchers.     

Tryptophan phosphorescence of G-actin and F-actin

The tryptophan phosphorescence spectrum, intensity and decay kinetics of G-actin and F-actin were measured over a temperature range of 140-293 K. The fine structure in the phosphorescence spectra at low temperature, with O,O vibrational bands centered at 405 nm and 415.5 nm for both species, reveals a marked heterogeneity of the chromophore environment. The thermal quenching profile distinguishes these sites in terms of their flexibility, and shows that probably only one of the four tryptophan residues is still phosphorescent at ambient temperature due to its location in a relatively rigid buried core. Although some differences are demonstrated between G-actin and F-actin at low temperature, the identity of the triplet lifetime at ambient temperature strongly supports the notion that the conformation of the macromolecule is largely unaffected by polymerization. Preliminary phosphorescence anisotropy measurements demonstrate both the occurrence of singlet-singlet energy transfer among tryptophan residues and a strong immobilization of actin in the polymerized state.