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

该奖项支持弗吉尼亚大学化学系的James N.Demas博士关于发光Ru(II)、Os(II)、Ir(III)和Re(I)光敏剂与各种环境的相互作用的研究。这项工作将与詹姆斯·麦迪逊大学化学系的本杰明·A·德格拉夫博士合作进行。长期目标是了解附着在生物聚合物、囊泡、有机聚合物、环糊精、DNA和其他有组织介质上对这些络合物发光特性的影响。特别令人感兴趣的是测试这些具有长寿命激发态寿命的络合物是否适合检测蛋白质的结合和折叠等过程。长烷基链将被连接到金属络合物上，以改变分子发光部分的行为，这是在金属附近放置疏水相互作用的结果。温度和介质动态等因素将被考虑在内。该项目将需要合成一些新的络合物，并使用先进的发光方法，如动态偏振和相位荧光测量。这项研究可能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，或用作传感器或探测器。在生物、环境和工业应用中，需要对大分子的分子级结构特征和变化进行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。在这项研究中，某些金属络合物的发光性质将作为蛋白质结构变化的探针进行测试，以获得设计有效的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.