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

这个无机，生物无机和有机金属项目的奖项支持弗吉尼亚大学化学系的James N. Demas博士对发光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Benjamin A. DeGraaf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复合物发光特性的影响。特别感兴趣的是测试这些具有长激发态寿命的复合物的适用性，以检测蛋白质的结合和折叠等过程。由于在金属附近放置疏水相互作用，为了改变分子发光部分的行为，将长烷基链连接到金属配合物上。温度和介质动力学等因素将被考虑在内。该项目将需要合成一些新的配合物，并使用先进的发光方法，如动态极化和相荧光测量。这项研究可以帮助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作为传感器或探测器。生物、环境和工业应用需要对分子水平结构特征和大分子变化进行选择性和敏感的探针。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.