Fluorimeter upgrade

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Fluorescence is a property where molecules emit light after absorbing light of a different color (higher energy, shorter wavelength).  Fluorescence measurements are very sensitive and at its limit emission can be detected from a single molecule.  Because of its sensitivity fluorescence has found many applications, as for example in sensors in medical diagnostic kits.  Chemists use fluorescence as a diagnostic tool for how efficiently reactions happen and as probes to understand how molecules can interact with one another.  In the Bohne group fluorescence is an essential tool to establish how guests bind to supramolecular systems.  This characterization precedes all of the kinetic studies to determine the binding dynamics of guests to host systems. In addition, the expertise and ability for fluorescence studies of complex systems has been the central theme for the collaboration of the Bohne group with researchers in Japan and Germany. The Wan group specializes in studying how photochemical reactions happen.  Many of the compounds after absorbing light (initiation process for photochemistry) and before reacting undergo fluorescence and this emission is used as a diagnostic tool for the efficiency of the reactions. The current fluorimeter used by both research groups is 10 years old and data acquisition and analysis is performed on an old computer with proprietary DOS software.  The request for an upgrade would eliminate the bottleneck in the acquisition of fluorescence data and would enhance the productivity of the groups involved.