Direct observation of multiple conformational states in Cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase and their modulation by membrane environment and ionic strength.

Cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase (POR) is the primary electron donor in eukaryotic cytochrome P450 (CYP) containing systems. A wealth of ensemble biophysical studies of Cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase (POR) has reported a binary model of the conformational equilibrium directing its catalytic efficiency and biomolecular recognition. In this study, full length POR from the crop plant Sorghum bicolor was site-specifically labeled with Cy3 (donor) and Cy5 (acceptor) fluorophores and reconstituted in nanodiscs. Our single molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (smFRET) burst analyses of POR allowed the direct observation and quantification of at least three dominant conformational sub-populations, their distribution and occupancies. Moreover, the state occupancies were remodeled significantly by ionic strength and the nature of reconstitution environment, i.e. phospholipid bilayers (nanodiscs) composed of different lipid head group charges vs. detergent micelles. The existence of conformational heterogeneity in POR may mediate selective activation of multiple downstream electron acceptors and association in complexes in the ER membrane.

Probing the Absorption and Emission Transition Dipole Moment of DNA Stabilized Silver Nanoclusters.

Using single molecule polarization measurements, we investigate the excitation and emission polarization characteristics of DNA stabilized silver nanoclusters (C24-AgNCs). Although small changes in the polarization generally accompany changes to the emission spectrum, the emission and excitation transition dipoles tend to be steady over time and aligned in a similar direction, when immobilized in PVA. The emission transition dipole patterns, observed for C24-AgNCs in defocused wide field imaging, match that of a single emitter. The small changes to the polarization and spectral shifting that were observed could be due to changes to the conformation of the AgNC or the DNA scaffold. Although less likely, an alternative explanation could be that several well aligned spectrally similar emitters are present within the DNA scaffold which, due to Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) processes such as energy hopping, energy transfer, and singlet-singlet annihilation, behave as a single emitter. The reported results can provide more insight in the structural and photophysical properties of DNA-stabilized AgNCs.

Probing DNA-stabilized fluorescent silver nanocluster spectral heterogeneity by time-correlated single photon counting.

DNA-stabilized silver nanoclusters (DNA-AgNCs) are promising fluorophores whose photophysical properties and synthesis procedures have received increased attention in the literature. However, depending on the preparation conditions and the DNA sequence, the DNA-AgNC samples can host a range of different emitters, which can influence the reproducibility of the optical response and the evolution over time of the populations of these emitters. We have developed a simple method to characterize the spectral heterogeneity and time evolution of these emissive species at any given point in time after preparation, by plotting the average decay time as a function of emission wavelength. These so-called average decay time spectra were acquired for different excitation wavelengths of AgNCs stabilized by an oligonucleotide containing 24 cytosines (C24-AgNCs). The average decay time spectra allowed the comparison of sample preparation and the judgment of reproducibility. Therefore, we propose the use of the average decay time spectra as a robust and easy tool to characterize and compare different as-synthesized DNA-AgNC samples. The average decay time spectra can in general also be used to characterize the spectral heterogeneity of other fluorophores, such as luminescent colloidal nanoparticles, and to assess the reproducibility of a synthetic procedure containing an unknown distribution of emissive species.

Charge Transfer in Single Chains of a Donor-Acceptor Conjugated Tri-Block Copolymer.

The photophysics of a conjugated triblock copolymer comprising poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-co-bis-N,N'-(4-methylphenyl)-bis-N,N'-phenyl-1,4-phenylenediamine) (PFM) electron donor and poly(4-(9,9-dioctyl-9H-fluoren-2-yl)benzo[c][1,2,5]-thiadiazole) (F8BT) electron acceptor blocks has been studied in solution, in films, and as single chains. While an additional long-wavelength emission apparent in neat films of the copolymer is attributed to interchain exciplex formation, no such long-wavelength emission is apparent in solution or from single molecules. However, in these cases, time-resolved fluorescence measurements indicate the presence of a delayed fluorescence. The kinetics of the delayed emission can be interpreted in terms of an equilibrium between a locally excited and a charge-transfer state at the interface of the copolymer block components. Rate constants and thermodynamic quantities associated with these processes have been evaluated. The single-molecule results allow the assignment of an intramolecular charge-transfer state in an isolated conjugated block copolymer chain.

Green emitting photoproducts from terrylene diimide after red illumination.

The spectral properties of emissive photoproducts, formed upon 633 nm irradiation of a terrylene diimide dye, were investigated. Ensemble and single-molecule level experiments were conducted by immobilizing the TDI dye molecules in a polystyrene film. In the bulk experiments, green emission could be observed from the photobleached areas (photobleached with 633 nm light) when excited with 480 or 514 nm light. Similar phenomena were also observed at the single-molecule level. On the basis of the single-molecule experiments, a conversion efficiency of about 5% was estimated for the formation of emissive spectrally blue-shifted photoproducts. These green emissive photoproducts have spectral properties that resemble those of lower rylene homologues, e.g. perylene diimide or perylene monoimide. Our results indicate that the formation of blue-shifted emissive photoproducts can have implications for analyzing single-molecule FRET experiments or multiple color-labeled fluorescent systems.

Synthetic polymers for solar harvesting.

Synthetic polymers incorporating appropriate chromophores can act as light harvesting antennae for artificial photosynthetic systems. The photophysical processes occurring in a polymer based on phenylene vinylene have been investigated at the single chain level and in bulk solution to study energy transfer processes. Most single chains of an alternating copolymer of 2-methoxy-5-(2'-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene and 1,4-phenylene vinylene (alt-co-MEH-PPV) dispersed in a transparent polymer matrix act as single chromophore emitters demonstrating that energy transfer is an efficient process in these polymers. However for individual polymer chains there are fluctuations in emission intensity ('blinking') and shifts in emission spectra, decay lifetimes and emission dipole orientation occurring on a time-scale of tens of seconds. Fluorescence blinking also occurs on a sub-millisecond time-scale and follows exponential kinetics, whereas the longer blinking is better described by a power law. These observations can be interpreted as arising from environmental relaxation processes and/or changes in the emitter and demonstrate the wide distribution of photophysical behaviours that can be observed among the individual molecules of a polymer sample. The relevance of these studies to the application of polymer materials for solar harvesting is highlighted.