Probing the Structural Features and the Micro-heterogeneity of Various Deep Eutectic Solvents and their Water Dilutions by the Photophysical Behaviour of Two Fluorophores

Author(s):  
Matteo Tiecco ◽  
Irene Di Guida ◽  
Pier Luigi Gentili ◽  
Raimondo Germani ◽  
Carmela Bonaccorso ◽  
...  

<div><div><div><p>The structural features of a series of diverse Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) have been investigated and characterized by means of two fluorescent probes. The spectral and photophysical properties of the latter are strictly dependent on the experienced environment, so that they can provide insights into the polarity, viscosity, hydrogen-bond network, and micro-heterogeneity of the various DESs.</p><p>In fact, the investigated DESs exhibit a variety of properties with regards to their hydrophilicity, acidity, and hydrogen-bond ability, and these details were deeply probed by the two fluorescent molecules. The effect of the addition of water, which is a key strategy for tuning the properties of these structured systems, was also tested. In particular, the excited state dynamics of the probes, measured by femtosecond-resolved transient absorption, proved instrumental in understanding the changes in the structural properties of the DESs, namely reduced viscosity and enhanced heterogeneity, as the water percentage increases. Differences between the various DESs in terms of both local microheterogeneity and bulk viscosity also emerged from the peculiar multi-exponential solvation dynamics undergone by the excited states of the probes.</p></div></div></div>

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Tiecco ◽  
Irene Di Guida ◽  
Pier Luigi Gentili ◽  
Raimondo Germani ◽  
Carmela Bonaccorso ◽  
...  

<div><div><div><p>The structural features of a series of diverse Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) have been investigated and characterized by means of two fluorescent probes. The spectral and photophysical properties of the latter are strictly dependent on the experienced environment, so that they can provide insights into the polarity, viscosity, hydrogen-bond network, and micro-heterogeneity of the various DESs.</p><p>In fact, the investigated DESs exhibit a variety of properties with regards to their hydrophilicity, acidity, and hydrogen-bond ability, and these details were deeply probed by the two fluorescent molecules. The effect of the addition of water, which is a key strategy for tuning the properties of these structured systems, was also tested. In particular, the excited state dynamics of the probes, measured by femtosecond-resolved transient absorption, proved instrumental in understanding the changes in the structural properties of the DESs, namely reduced viscosity and enhanced heterogeneity, as the water percentage increases. Differences between the various DESs in terms of both local microheterogeneity and bulk viscosity also emerged from the peculiar multi-exponential solvation dynamics undergone by the excited states of the probes.</p></div></div></div>


2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (33) ◽  
pp. 19731-19736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dihao Wang ◽  
Xiankun Li ◽  
Sheng Zhang ◽  
Lijuan Wang ◽  
Xiaojing Yang ◽  
...  

Cyanobacteriochromes are photoreceptors in cyanobacteria that exhibit a wide spectral coverage and unique photophysical properties from the photoinduced isomerization of a linear tetrapyrrole chromophore. Here, we integrate femtosecond-resolved fluorescence and transient-absorption methods and unambiguously showed the significant solvation dynamics occurring at the active site from a few to hundreds of picoseconds. These motions of local water molecules and polar side chains are continuously convoluted with the isomerization reaction, leading to a nonequilibrium processes with continuous active-site motions. By mutations of critical residues at the active site, the modified local structures become looser, resulting in faster solvation relaxations and isomerization reaction. The observation of solvation dynamics is significant and critical to the correct interpretation of often-observed multiphasic dynamic behaviors, and thus the previously invoked ground-state heterogeneity may not be relevant to the excited-state isomerization reaction.


2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (10) ◽  
pp. 1568-1571
Author(s):  
Ugochukwu Okeke ◽  
Yilma Gultneh ◽  
Ray J. Butcher

The structure of the title compound, [Zn(C14H18N4)(C2H3N)(H2O)](ClO4)2, contains a six-coordinate cation consisting of the tetradentate bispicen ligand, coordinated water, and coordinated acetonitrile, with the latter two ligands adopting acisconfiguration. There are two formula units in the asymmetric unit. Both cations show almost identical structural features with the bispicen ligand adopting the more commoncis-β conformation. One of the four perchlorate anions is disordered over two positions, with occupancies of 0.9090 (15) and 0.0910 (15). There is extensive inter-ionic hydrogen bonding between the perchlorate anions and O—H and N—H groups in the cations, including a bifurcated hydrogen bond between an N—H group and two O atoms of one perchlorate anion. As a result of this extended hydrogen-bond network, the ions are linked into a complex three-dimensional array.


2021 ◽  
pp. 120431
Author(s):  
Akinori Honda ◽  
Shunta Kakihara ◽  
Shuhei Ichimura ◽  
Kazuaki Tomono ◽  
Mina Matsushita ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 2472
Author(s):  
Ilaria Fratoddi ◽  
Chiara Battocchio ◽  
Giovanna Iucci ◽  
Daniele Catone ◽  
Antonella Cartoni ◽  
...  

This paper presents the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) functionalized with fluorescent molecules, in particular with xanthene-based dyes, i.e., fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC, λmax = 485 nm) and rhodamine B isothiocyanate (RITC, λmax = 555 nm). An in-depth characterization of the particle–dye systems, i.e., AgNPs–RITC and AgNPs–FITC, is presented to evaluate their chemical structure and optical properties due to the interaction between their plasmonic and absorption properties. UV–Vis spectroscopy and the dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements confirmed the nanosize of the AgNPs–RITC and AgNPs–FITC. Synchrotron radiation X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (SR-XPS) was used to study the chemical surface functionalization by structural characterization, confirming/examining the isothiocyanate–metal interaction. For AgNPs–RITC, in which the plasmonic and fluorescence peak are not superimposed, the transient dynamics of the dye fluorescence were also studied. Transient absorption measurements showed that by exciting the AgNPs–RITC sample at a wavelength corresponding to the AgNP plasmon resonance, it was possible to preferentially excite the RITC dye molecules attached to the surface of the NPs with respect to the free dye molecules in the solution. These results demonstrate how, by combining plasmonics and fluorescence, these AgNPs can be used as promising systems in biosensing and imaging applications.


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