On the possibility of direct triplet state excitation of indole

Transient spectroscopic insights into nitroindole's T1 state: Elucidating its intermediates and unique photochemical properties

Indoles are notable for their distinct photophysical and photochemical properties, making them useful indicators in biological systems and promising candidates for a variety of pharmaceutical applications. While some indoles exhibit room temperature phosphorescence, such a phenomenon has not been observed in nitroindoles. Typically, adding of a nitro group into aromatic compounds promotes ultrafast intersystem crossing and increases the formation quantum yield of the lowest excited triplet (T1). Therefore, understanding the reactivity of nitroindoles' T1 states is imperative. This study investigated the physical properties and chemical reactivities of the T1 state of 6-nitroindole (3HN-6NO2) in both polar aprotic and protic solvents, using transient absorption spectroscopy. Our results demonstrate the basicity and acidity of 3HN-6NO2, emphasizing its potential for protonation and dissociation in mildly acidic and basic conditions, respectively. Furthermore, 3HN-6NO2 has a high oxidizing capacity, participating in electron transfer reactions and proton-coupled electron transfer to produce radicals. Interestingly, in protic solvents like alcohols, 3HN-6NO2 dissociates at the -NH group and forms N-H…O hydrogen-bonded complexes with the nitro group. By identifying transient absorption spectra of intermediates and quantifying kinetic reaction rate constants, we illuminate the unique properties of the T1 state nitroindoles, enriching our understanding of their photophysical and photochemical behaviors. The results of this study have significant implications for their potential application in both biological systems and materials science.

Photophysical properties of DAPI in PVA films. Possibility of room temperature phosphorescence

We studied the spectral properties of 4'-6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) in poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) films. Absorption and fluorescence spectra, emission and excitation spectra, quantum yield, and fluorescence lifetime have been characterized. An efficient room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) of DAPI has been observed with UV and blue light excitations. A few hundred millisecond phosphorescence lifetime enables a gated detection with sufficient background reduction. We found the phosphorescent Quantum Yield of DAPI in PVA Film to be 0.0009.

Effect of annealing on the room temperature luminescence of coumarin 106 in PVA films

We studied the effect of annealing on the luminescence of Coumarin 106 (C106) in poly (vinyl alcohol) films (PVA films). The samples and reference polymer films were treated at temperatures between 100 °C and 150 °C (212 F and 302 F) for various times. After cooling and smoothing, the samples and references were measured at room temperature. We observed that the PVA polymer (reference films) changes its optical properties with annealing at higher temperatures, affecting the baselines in absorption and the backgrounds in emission measurements. This requires precise background subtractions and control of the signal-to-noise ratio. Whereas the fluorescence intensity of C106 in PVA films modestly decreases with annealing, the phosphorescence depends dramatically and progressively increases by many folds. The fluorescence quantum yields and lifetimes decrease with the annealing, which suggests an increase in the non-radiative processes in the singlet excited state S1. The increase in the phosphorescence intensities results from increased intersystem crossing (ISC), which also decreases fluorescence. We also studied the effect of annealing on phosphorescence with the directly excited triplet state of C106. In this case, two processes are affected by annealing, S0→T1absorption and T1→S0phosphorescence. The long-wavelength excitation (475 nm) avoids PVA polymer excitation. The phosphorescence lifetime decreases with annealing while the phosphorescence intensity increases. These changes suggest that the radiative rate of T1→ S0increases with annealing.

Room temperature phosphorescence of 2-aminopyridine with direct triplet state excitation

Phosphorescence emission at room temperature has been observed from 2-Aminopyridyne (2APi) embedded in poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) films. The gated emission with UV excitation at 305 nm results in a residual delayed fluorescence at around 350 nm and a broad phosphorescence spectrum with a maximum of around 500 nm. The phosphorescence excitation spectrum of 2APi - doped PVA film differs from the absorption spectrum in the long-wavelength part, showing a band at about 400-450 nm. The phosphorescence spectrum measured with a blue (420 nm) excitation closely resembles the spectrum measured with 305 nm excitation. Whereas the phosphorescence anisotropy measured with UV excitation is low and negative, with the blue excitation, the anisotropy is high and positive. The phosphorescence lifetimes (a fraction of a millisecond) are similar for UV and blue excitations. Both phosphorescence emissions with either UV or blue excitation strongly depend on temperature.

Direct Excitation of Tryptophan Phosphorescence. A New Method for Triplet States Investigation

We studied room temperature phosphorescence of tryptophan (TRP) embedded in poly (vinyl alcohol) films. With UV (285 nm) excitation, the phosphorescence spectrum of tryptophan appears at about 460 nm. We also observed the TRP phosphorescence with blue light excitation at 410 nm, well outside of the S0→S1 absorption. This excitation reaches the triplet state of tryptophan directly without the involvement of the singlet excited state. The phosphorescence lifetime of tryptophan is in the sub-millisecond range. The long-wavelength direct excitation to the triplet state results in high phosphorescence anisotropy which can be useful in macromolecule dynamics study via time-resolved phosphorescence.

Direct photo-induced reductive Heck cyclization of indoles for the efficient preparation of polycyclic indolinyl compounds

The photo-induced cleavage of C(sp2)-Cl bonds is an appealing synthetic tool in organic synthesis, but usually requires the use of high UV light, photocatalysts and/or photosensitizers. Herein is described a direct photo-induced chloroarene activation with UVA/blue LEDs that can be used in the reductive Heck cyclization of indoles and without the use of a photocatalyst or photosensitizer. The indole compounds examined display room-temperature phosphorescence. The photochemical reaction tolerates a panel of functional groups including esters, alcohols, amides, cyano and alkenes (27 examples, 50-88% yields), and can be used to prepare polycyclic compounds and perform the functionalization of natural product analogues in moderate to good yields. Mechanistic experiments, including time-resolved absorption spectroscopy, are supportive of photo-induced electron transfer between the indole substrate and DIPEA, with the formation of radical intermediates in the photo-induced dearomatization reaction.

On the origin and correction for inner filter effects in fluorescence. Part II: secondary inner filter effect -the proper use of front-face configuration for highly absorbing and scattering samples

Fluorescence is an established technology for studying molecular processes and molecular interactions. More recently fluorescence became a leading method for detection, sensing, medical diagnostics, biotechnology, imaging, DNA analysis, and gene expression. Consequently, precise and accurate measurements in various conditions have become more critical for proper result interpretations. Previously, in Part 1, we discussed inner filter effect type I, which is a consequence of the instrumental geometrical sensitivity factor and absorption of the excitation. In this part, we analyze inner filter effect type II and discuss the practical consequences for fluorescence measurements in samples of high optical density (absorbance/scattering). We consider both the standard square and front-face experimental configurations, discuss experimental approaches to limit/mitigate the effect and discuss methods for correcting and interpreting experimental results.

Triplet state solvation dynamics: extending the accessible timescale by using indole as local probe

Triplet state solvation dynamics (TSD) is a truly local measurement technique, where a dye molecule is dissolved as a probe at low concentration in a solvent. Depending on the dye molecule, local information on mechanical or dielectric solvation can be obtained. So far, this method has mainly been used to investigate topics such as fundamentals of glassy dynamics and confinement effects. Based on the procedure presented in [P. Weigl et al., Z. Phys. Chem., 2018, 232, 1017-1039] in the present contribution two new TSD probes, namely indole and its derivative cbz-tryptophan, are identified and characterized in detail. In particular, their longer phosphorescence lifetime allows for a significant extension of the timescale of local mechanical and dipolar solvation measurements. In combination with previously used dyes a measurement window of up to five orders of magnitude in time can be covered. Furthermore, we show that in cbz-tryptophan the indole unit is the phosphorescence center, while the rest of the molecule only slightly contributes to the solvation response function. The detailed understanding of these two new TSD probes presented in this work, will allow in depth investigations of solvation and the corresponding dynamics also for biologically relevant systems in the future.