Blinking Fluorophores by Design

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The Chemical Structure, Dynamics and Mechanisms Program in the Chemistry Division at the National Science Foundation supports Professor Francisco Raymo of the University of Miami, for the synthesis and characterization of a novel class of switchable organic fluorophores based on the [1,3]oxazine skeleton. The goal of this work is to use the fluorophores for the visualization of biological samples with nanoscale resolution on the basis of single-molecule fluorescence imaging. The molecules will be designed to interconvert continuously between fluorescent and nonemissive states, blinking at the single-molecule level allowing temporal resolution within the same subdiffraction volume. The work provides the ability to record super-resolution images of biological preparations with commercial fluorescence microscopes and conventional optics.Broader impacts of the research include the potential impact on subdiffraction microscopy and extension of these techniques to image biological substrates on the nanometer scale. The Raymo laboratory will take advantage of the large pool of students available from underepresented groups from the local Miami metropolitan area.