DBD dyes as fluorescent probes for sensing lipophilic environments.

Small fluorescent organic molecules based on [1,3]dioxolo[4,5-f][1,3]benzodioxole (DBD) could be used as probes for lipophillic microenvironments in aqueous solutions by indicating the critical micelles concentration of detergents and staining cell organelles. Their fluorescence lifetime decreases drastically by the amount of water in their direct environment. Therefore they are potential probes for fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM).

Building blocks for oligospiroketal (OSK) Rods and evaluation of their influence on rod rigidity.

We report on the synthesis of three new sleeves and their incorporation in OSK rods. The structures of these sleeves are based on neo-inositol, terephthalaldehyde diacetals, and indacene. To quantify the influence of the sleeves on rod rigidity, we applied the worm-like chain (WLC) model on the new rods and found that this approach is rather disappointing. As the chief cause of this result, we assume that the rigidity of typical molecular rods largely exceeds the rigidity of polymers, which were successfully described by the WLC model. Alternatively, we suggest quantifying the rigidity of molecular rods by fitting an empirical function on the end-to-end distance distribution curve obtained by MD simulations. After checking various function types, the Levy-Martin function proved to be most suitable for this purpose. On the basis of this function, we defined the Levy-Martin parameter and suggest using this parameter for the characterization of the rigidity of molecular rods.

New molecular rods--characterization of their interaction with membranes.

Molecular rods are synthetical molecules consisting of a hydrophobic backbone which are functionalized with varying terminal groups. Here, we report on the interaction of a recently described new class of molecular rods with lipid and biological membranes. In order to characterize this interaction, different fluorescently labeled rods were synthesized allowing for the application of fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy based approaches. Our data show that the rods are incorporated into membranes with a perpendicular orientation to the membrane surface and enrich preferentially in liquid-disordered lipid domains. These characteristics underline that rods can be applied as stable membrane-associated anchors for functionalizing membrane surfaces.

Molecular rods with oligospiroketal backbones as anchors in biological membranes.

Getting stuck in: A hydrophobic molecular rod with terminal fluorescent moieties has been synthesized. The insertion of the rod into membranes was investigated and shown to incorporate efficiently into model and biological membranes (see picture; gray C, blue N, red O). Those rods can be used as stable membrane-associated anchors for functionalization of membrane surfaces.

Nanoscale molecular rods with a new building block for solubility enhancement.

A new building block bearing a [1,3]dioxolo[4,5- f][1,3]benzodioxole core was developed to enhance the solubility of molecular rods by lateral alkyl chains. On incorporation in molecular rods with oligospiroketal structure, the straight geometry is retained, which was concluded from the X-ray crystal structure analysis of one of the rods. The determination of the solubility of a collection of rods bearing this building block revealed that already a butyl group efficiently hinders the aggregation of the rods and consequently causes a considerable enhancement of the solubility. Piperidine rings are located at the ends of the rods, which offer the opportunity for versatile functionalization. Thus, an N, N'-bis(azidoacetyl)-functionalized rod was prepared, which could serve as rigid linkage, initiated by a "Click" reaction.

Oligospiroketals as novel molecular rods.

A modular approach for the synthesis of molecular rods based on oligospiroketals has been developed. The strategy relies on different terminal and intermediate segments, which are joined by ketal formation between ketones and diols. For this purpose it was necessary to develop a new ketalization method to circumvent some problems related with the established methods. The terminal segments are either derived from 4-piperidinone or from 4-oxocyclohexane carboxylic acid whereas the intermediate segments rest on pentaerythritol and cyclohexane-1,4-dione. A series of trispiro (14-18), hexaspiro (19) and nonaspiro (20) compounds have been prepared and characterized. From these we realized that it is imperative to use solubility enhancing groups if more than seven rings are joined.