Luminescent Transition Metal Complexes: Static/Dynamic Interactions in Macromolecular Systems

这个奖项在无机，生物无机和有机物计划支持研究博士詹姆斯N。关于发光的Ru（II）、Os（II）、Ir（III）和Re（I）光敏剂与各种环境的相互作用。 这项工作将与合作者本杰明A。詹姆斯麦迪逊大学化学系的德格拉夫说。 长期目标是了解附着到生物聚合物，囊泡，有机聚合物，环糊精，DNA和其他有组织的介质对这些复合物的发光特性的影响。 特别感兴趣的是测试这些具有长寿命激发态寿命的复合物用于检测诸如蛋白质的缔合和折叠的过程的适用性。 长烷基链将连接到金属络合物上，以便由于在金属附近放置疏水相互作用而改变分子的发光部分的行为。 将考虑温度和介质动态等因素。 该项目将需要合成一些新的复合物和使用先进的发光方法，如动态偏振和相位荧光测量。这项研究有助于设计高灵敏度的发光材料，以选择性地识别某些结构特征或用作传感器或检测器。 在生物、环境和工业应用中，需要用于分子水平结构特征和大分子变化的选择性和灵敏的探针。 例如，已知酶、催化剂和气体分子在表面的反应对结构和溶剂环境非常敏感。 在本研究中，将测试某些金属配合物的发光特性作为蛋白质结构变化的探针，以获得设计有效分子探针所需的信息。

This award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Program supports research by Dr. James N. Demas of the Department of Chemistry, University of Virginia, on interaction of luminescent Ru(II), Os(II), Ir(III), and Re(I) photosensitizers with various environments. The work will be carried out with collaborator Dr. Benjamin A. DeGraaf of the Chemistry Department, James Madison University. The long-term goal is to understand the effect that attachment to biopolymers, vesicles, organic polymers, cyclodextrin, DNA, and other organized media has on the luminescent properties of these complexes. Of particular interest is testing the suitability of these complexes with long- lived excited state lifetimes for detecting processes such as association and folding of proteins. Long alkyl chains will be attached to the metal complexes in order to modify the behavior of the luminescent portion of the molecule as a consequence of placing hydrophobic interactions in the vicinity of the metal. Factors such as temperature and media dynamics would be considered. The project will require synthesis of a number of new complexes and use of advanced luminescence methods, such as dynamic polarization and phase fluorimetry measurements. This research could be aid in the design of highly sensitive luminescent materials to selectively identify certain structural features or to serve as sensors or detectors. Selective and sensitive probes for molecular-level structural features and changes in macromolecules are needed for biological, environmental, and industrial applications. For example, reactions of enzymes, catalysts, and gas molecules at surfaces are known be very sensitive to structural and solvent environment. In this research, the luminescent property of certain metal complexes will be tested as a probe for structural changes in proteins, in order to obtain information necessary for the design of effective molecular probes.