On the unusual fluorescence properties of xanthone in water.

Photo-excited xanthone is known to undergo ultrafast intersystem crossing (ISC) in the 1 ps time domain. Correspondingly, its fluorescence quantum yield in most solvents is very small ( approximately 10(-4)). Surprisingly, the quantum yield in water is 100 times larger, while ISC is still rapid ( approximately 1 ps), as seen by ultrafast pump probe absorption spectroscopy. Temperature dependent steady state and time resolved fluorescence experiments point to a delayed fluorescence mechanism, where the triplet (3)npi* state primarily accessed by ISC is nearly isoenergetic with the photo-excited (1)pipi* state. The delayed fluorescence of xanthone in water decays with a time constant of 700 ps, apparently by internal conversion between the (3)npi* state and the lowest lying triplet state (3)pipi*.

Photoswitchable elements within a peptide backbone-ultrafast spectroscopy of thioxylated amides.

A series of thioxo compounds, thioacetamide, N-methylthioacetamide, a cyclic thioxoamide [(S)-5-thioxopyrrolidine-2-carboxylic acid ethyl ester], two thioxylated dipeptides (Ala-Psi[CS-NH]-Ala and Phe-Psi[CS-NH]-Ala) and a thioxylated dodecapeptide (Lys-Glu-Thr-Ala-Ala-Ala-Lys-Phe-Glu-Arg-Gln-His-Psi[CS-NH]-Nle-Asp-Ser-Ser-Thr-Ser-Ala-Ala, or [thioxo-His(12)]-S-peptide; Nle = norleucine) are investigated by ultrafast spectroscopy in the visible and near UV. The different molecules show very similar absorption dynamics featuring a rise of a strong visible absorption band on the subpicosecond and picosecond time scale. The decay of the visible absorption occurs within 150-600 ps. The observations are interpreted by the ultrafast formation of triplet states and their decay on the subnanosecond time scale. Comparison with published IR experiments on N-methylthioacetamide indicates that the cis-trans isomerization around the thioxopeptide bond is terminated within less than 1 ns.

Ultrafast conformational dynamics in cyclic azobenzene peptides of increased flexibility.

Structural changes of peptides containing the azobenzene dye 4-aminomethyl-phenylazobenzoic acid (AMPB) are studied with ultrafast spectroscopy. AMPB peptides are a new class of molecules where the photoisomerizable dye azobenzene is linked to the peptide moiety via a flexible methylene spacer. The ultrafast reactions in the femtosecond to nanosecond time domain are investigated for the optical switch AMPB, a linear and cyclic octapeptide, and a bicyclic octapeptide containing an additional disulfide bridge. These molecules with increasing conformational constraints are studied for the cis to trans and the trans to cis photoreactions. For the cis to trans reaction the isomerization of the chromophore occurs fast in the 1-ps range, whereas it is slower (10-ps range) in the trans to cis reaction. In all peptides the structural changes of the chromophore lead to modifications in the peptide structure in the 10-ps-1-ns time range. The results indicate that the chromophore AMPB acts simultaneously as a fast molecular switch and as a sensor for initial conformational dynamics in the peptide. Experiments in the mid-infrared range where the structural changes of the peptide backbone are directly observed demonstrate that the essential part of the structural dynamics in the bicyclic AMPB peptide occurs faster than 10 ns.