An oligopeptide doubly labelled with an azulene chromophore and a TEMPO radical. Azulene triplet generation by enhanced ISC from S2

Radical-Enhanced Intersystem Crossing in Perylene-Oxoverdazyl Radical Dyads

Linking stable radicals to organic chromophores is an effective method to enhance the intersystem crossing (ISC) of chromophores. Herein we prepared perylene-oxoverdazyl dyads either by directly connecting the two units or using an intervening phenyl spacer. We investigated the effect of the radical on the photophysical properties of perylene and observed strong fluorescence quenching due to radical enhanced intersystem crossing (REISC). Compared with a previously reported perylene fused nitroxide radical compound (triplet lifetime = 0.1 µs), these new adducts show a longer-lived triplet excited state (9.5 µs). Based on the singlet oxygen quantum yield (7%), we propose that the radical enhanced internal conversion also plays a role in the relaxation of the excited state. Femtosecond fluorescence up-conversion indicates a fast decay of the excited state (<1.0 ps), suggesting a strong spin-spin exchange interaction between the two units. Femtosecond transient absorption (fs-TA) spectra confirmed direct triplet state population (within 0.5 ps). Interestingly, by fs-TA, we observed the interconversion of the two states (D1/Q1) at ~80 ps time scale. Time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance (TREPR) spectral study confirmed the formation of the quartet sate ,  we observed triplet and quartet states simultaneously with weights of 0.7 and 0.3, respectively. DFT computations showed that the interaction between radical and chromophore is ferromagnetic ( J >0, 0.05~0.10 eV).

Direct Enzymatic Synthesis of a Deep-Blue Fluorescent Noncanonical Amino Acid from Azulene and Serine

We report a simple, one-step enzymatic synthesis of the blue fluorescent noncanonical amino acid β-(1-azulenyl)-l-alanine (AzAla). By using an engineered tryptophan synthase β-subunit (TrpB), stereochemically pure AzAla can be synthesized at scale starting from commercially available azulene and l-serine. Mutation of a universally conserved catalytic glutamate in the active site to glycine has only a modest effect on native activity with indole but abolishes activity on azulene, suggesting that this glutamate activates azulene for nucleophilic attack by stabilization of the aromatic ion.

β-(1-Azulenyl)-L-alanine--a functional probe for determination of pKa of histidine residues

β-(1-Azulenyl)-L-alanine (AzAla) can be incorporated into the influenza A virus M2 proton channel. AzAla's sensitivity to the protonation state of the nearby histidines and the lack of environmental fluorescence dependence allow for direct and straightforward determination of histidine pKa values in ion channels.

Painting proteins blue: β-(1-azulenyl)-L-alanine as a probe for studying protein-protein interactions

We demonstrated that β-(1-azulenyl)-L-alanine, a fluorescent pseudoisosteric analog of tryptophan, exhibits weak environmental dependence and thus allows for using weak intrinsic quenchers, such as methionines, to monitor protein-protein interactions while not perturbing them.

Spin coupling in the supramolecular structure of a new tetra(quinoline-TEMPO)yttrium(III) complex

The newly synthesized tetra(quinoline-TEMPO)yttrium(III) potassium salt shows interesting structural features at the molecular and supramolecular levels, revealed by the analysis of the X-ray diffraction data. The magnetic susceptibility and EPR data corroborated with structural considerations showed that the exchange and dipolar spin coupling interactions are taking place at the nodes assembling the supramolecular 2D structure. The Y(III) center shows antiprismatic octacoordination, close to the idealized D2 symmetry. The diamagnetic transition metal plays no role in mediating the radical interactions since the TEMPO-type fragments are remote from the chelating moieties of the ligand. In turn, significant interaction occurs on the nodes consisting in the quasi-rectangular coordination of potassium counterions by the spin-bearing TEMPO groups coming from four distinct complex units. The antiferromagnetic susceptibility was consistently modeled by a spin Hamiltonian based on the rectangle topology of four spins S = 1/2. The fitted exchange parameters are Ja = -5.1 cm-1 and Jb = -3.4 cm-1 for the edges, imposing Jd = 0 for the diagonal. These values are in excellent agreement with the ab initio results Ja = -4.83 cm-1, Jb = -3.44 cm-1, Jd = -0.07 cm-1 obtained in a CASSCF(12,8) calculation. Based on the reliability of the ab initio results we were able to select the presented J parameters among several versions of multiple solutions with acceptable goodness of the fit. A methodological caveat about the artifacts of the automatic use of best fit parameters, in the absence of supplementary criteria, in the context of relative blindness of magnetic susceptibility modeling, is raised. The details of the EPR spectrum at 10 K are also consistent, in the frame of dipolar approximation, with the model of four interacting spins at the nodes of the supramolecular assembling.

Gold Nanoclusters Protected by Conformationally Constrained Peptides

The preparation and properties of a series of gold nanoclusters protected by thiolated peptides based on the alpha-aminoisobutyric acid (Aib) unit are described. The peptides were devised to form 0-3 C=O...H-N intramolecular hydrogen bonds, as required by their 3(10)-helical structure. The monolayer-protected clusters (MPCs) were prepared, using a modified version of the two-phase Brust-Schiffrin preparation, and fully characterized with (1)H NMR spectrometry, IR and UV-vis absorption spectroscopies, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The MPCs were obtained with core diameters in the range of 1.1-2.3 nm, depending on the reaction conditions. Structured peptides formed smaller clusters. The smallest MPC obtained is in agreement with the average formula Au(38)Pep(18). The results showed that the chemical integrity of the peptide is maintained upon monolayer formation and that the average number of peptide ligands per gold cluster is typically 75-85% the value calculated for alkanethiolate MPCs of similar sizes. The IR and NMR spectra indicated that in the monolayer the peptides are involved in both intra- and interligand C=O...H-N hydrogen bonds.

Structural properties and photophysical behavior of conformationally constrained hexapeptides functionalized with a new fluorescent analog of tryptophan and a nitroxide radical quencher

The influence of the conformational properties on the photophysics of two de novo designed hexapeptides was studied by spectroscopic measurements (ir, NMR, steady-state, and time resolved fluorescence) and molecular mechanics calculations. The peptide sequences comprise two nonproteinogenic residues: a beta-(1-azulenyl)-L-alanine (Aal) residue, obtained by formally functionalizing the Ala side chain with the azulene chromophore, and a Calpha-tetrasubstituted alpha-amino acid (TOAC), incorporating a nitroxide group in a cycloalkyl moiety. Aal represents a new fluorescent, quasi-isosteric Trp analog and TOAC a stable radical species, frequently used as a paramagnetic probe in biochemical studies. The peptide chains differ in the sequence position of the two probes and are heavily based on Aib (alpha-aminoisobutyric acid) residues to generate conformationally restricted helical structures, as confirmed by both spectroscopic and computational results. The conformationally controlled, excited state interactions, determining the photophysical relaxation of the Aal*/TOAC pair, are also discussed.