Interaction of Alkali Ions with Flavins: Infrared and Optical Spectra of Metal–Riboflavin Complexes

Photodissociative decay pathways of the flavin mononucleotide anion and its complexes with tryptophan and glutamic acid

Flavin mononucleotide (FMN) is a highly versatile biological chromophore involved in a range of biochemical pathways including blue-light sensing proteins and the control of circadian rhythms. Questions exist about the effect of local amino acids on the electronic properties and photophysics of the chromophore. Using gas-phase anion laser photodissociation spectroscopy, we have measured the intrinsic electronic spectroscopy (3.1-5.7 eV) and accompanying photodissociative decay pathways of the native deprotonated form of FMN, i.e. [FMN-H]- complexed with the amino acids tryptophan (TRP) and glutamic acid (GLU), i.e. [FMN-H]-·TRP and [FMN-H]-·GLU, to investigate the extent to which these amino acids perturb the electronic properties and photodynamics of the [FMN-H]- chromophore. The overall photodepletion profiles of [FMN-H]-·TRP and [FMN-H]-·GLU are similar to that of the monomer, revealing that amino acid complexation occurs without significant spectral shifting of the [FMN-H]- electronic excitations over this region. Both [FMN-H]-·TRP and [FMN-H]-·GLU are observed to decay by non-statistical photodecay pathways, although the behaviour of [FMN-H]-·TRP is closer to statistical fragmentation. Long-lived FMN excited states (triplet) are therefore relatively quenched when TRP binds to [FMN-H]-. Importantly, we find that [FMN-H]-, [FMN-H]-·TRP and [FMN-H]-·GLU all decay predominantly via electron detachment following photoexcitation of the flavin chromophore, with amino acid complexation appearing not to inhibit this decay channel. The strong propensity for electron detachment is attributed to excited-state proton transfer within FMN, with proton transfer from a ribose alcohol to the phosphate preceding electron detachment.

Electronic and vibrational spectroscopies of aromatic clusters with He in a supersonic jet: The case of neutral and cationic phenol-Hen (n = 1 and 2)

Van der Waals clusters composed of He and aromatic molecules provide fundamental information about intermolecular interactions in weakly bound systems. In this study, phenol-helium clusters (PhOH-Hen with n ≤ 2) are characterized for the first time by UV and IR spectroscopies. The S1 ← S0 origin and ionization energy both show small but additive shifts, suggesting π-bound structures of these clusters, a conclusion supported by rotational contour analyses of the S1 origin bands. The OH stretching vibrations of the PhOH moiety in the clusters match with those of bare PhOH in both the S0 and D0 states, illustrating the negligible perturbation of the He atoms on the molecular vibration. Matrix shifts induced by He attachment are discussed based on the observed band positions with the help of complementary quantum chemical calculations. For comparison, the UV and ionization spectra of PhOH-Ne are reported as well.

Water-Soluble Photoluminescent Adenosine-Functionalized Gold Nanoclusters as Highly Sensitive and Selective Receptors for Riboflavin Detection in Rat Brain

Simple, selective, and sensitive detection of cerebral riboflavin is of great significance due to the vital roles of riboflavin in physiological and pathological processes. In the work, water-soluble photoluminescent adenosine-functionalized gold nanoclusters (Ade-AuNCs) are exploited as highly sensitive and selective receptors for cerebral riboflavin detection. The Ade-AuNCs are prepared under aqueous conditions by the one-step "synthesis-functionalization integration" strategy, using chloroauric acid as gold precursors and adenosine as outer-shell ligands. During the Ade-AuNCs synthesis process, adenosine and ascorbic acid are demonstrated to respectively serve as a stabilizer and a reductant, and citrate buffer plays multiple roles including a pH regulator, reductant, and complexing agent. The added riboflavin causes photoluminescence quenching of Ade-AuNCs, and the quenching photoluminescence is applied for well quantifying riboflavin in the range of 0.005-0.1 nM with a detection limit of 0.002 nM. The detailed analytical characterizations reveal that the photoluminescence quenching results from the static photoinduced electron transfer process from the surface functional Ade-AuNCs to riboflavin and the strong affinity between Ade-AuNCs and riboflavin. Moreover, the Ade-AuNC-based sensor exhibits a high selectivity for riboflavin over metal ions, anions, amino acids, and biological substances that possibly exist in the rat brain. Finally, by coupling the microdialysis technique, the proposed sensor is successfully applied to detect riboflavin in living rat brain microdialysates with a basal value of 13.1 ± 2.5 nM (n = 3), and the results are comparable well with those from a reference high-performance liquid chromatography method.

Microsolvation of H2O+, H3O+, and CH3OH2+ by He in a cryogenic ion trap: structure of solvation shells

Due to the weak interactions of He atoms with neutral molecules and ions, the preparation of size-selected clusters for the spectroscopic characterization of their structures, energies, and large amplitude motions is a challenging task. Herein, we generate H₂O⁺He_n (n ≤ 9) and H₃O⁺He_n (n ≤ 5) clusters by stepwise addition of He atoms to mass-selected ions stored in a cryogenic 22-pole ion trap held at 5 K. The population of the clusters as a function of n provides insight into the structure of the first He solvation shell around these ions given by the anisotropy of the cation-He interaction potential. To rationalize the observed cluster size distributions, the structural, energetic, and vibrational properties of the clusters are characterized by ab initio calculations up to the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ level. The cluster growth around both the open-shell H₂O⁺ and closed-shell H₃O⁺ ions begins by forming nearly linear and equivalent OH⋯He hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) leading to symmetric structures. The strength of these H-bonds decreases slightly with n due to noncooperative three-body induction forces and is weaker for H₃O⁺ than for H₂O⁺ due to both enhanced charge delocalization and reduced acidity of the OH protons. After filling all available H-bonded sites, addition of further He ligands around H₂O⁺ (n = 3-4) occurs at the electrophilic singly occupied 2p_z orbital of O leading to O⋯He p-bonds stabilized by induction and small charge transfer from H₂O⁺ to He. As this orbital is filled for H₃O⁺, He atoms occupy in the n = 4-6 clusters positions between the H-bonded He atoms, leading to a slightly distorted regular hexagon ring for n = 6. Comparison between H₃O⁺He_n and CH₃OH₂⁺He_n illustrates that CH₃ substitution substantially reduces the acidity of the OH protons, so that only clusters up to n = 2 can be observed. The structure of the solvation sub-shells is visible in both the binding energies and the predicted vibrational OH stretch and bend frequencies.

Effect of Freezing out Vibrational Modes on Gas-Phase Fluorescence Spectra of Small Ionic Dyes

While action spectroscopy of cold molecular ions is a well-established technique to provide vibrationally resolved absorption features, fluorescence experiments are still challenging. Here we report the fluorescence spectra of pyronin-Y and resorufin ions at 100 K using a newly constructed setup. Spectra narrow upon cooling, and the emission maxima blueshift. Temperature effects are attributed to the population of vibrational excited levels in S₁, and that frequencies are lower in S₁ than in S₀. This picture is supported by calculated spectra based on a Franck-Condon model that not only predicts the observed change in maximum, but also assigns Franck-Condon active vibrations. In-plane vibrational modes that preserve the mirror plane present in both S₀ and S₁ of resorufin and pyronin Y account for most of the observed vibrational bands. Finally, at low temperatures, it is important to pick an excitation wavelength as far to the red as possible to not reheat the ions.

Non-statistical fragmentation in photo-activated flavin mononucleotide anions

The spectroscopy and photo-induced dissociation of flavin mononucleotide anions in vacuo are investigated over the 300-500 nm wavelength range. Comparison of the dependence of fragment ion yields as a function of deposited photon energy with calculated dissociation energies and collision-induced dissociation measurements performed under single-collision conditions suggests that a substantial fraction of photo-activated ions decompose through non-statistical fragmentation pathways. Among these pathways is the dominant photo-induced fragmentation channel, the loss of a fragment identified as formylmethylflavin. The fragment ion specific action spectra reveal electronic transition energies close to those for flavins in solution and previously published gas-phase measurements, although the photo-fragment yield upon excitation of the S₂ ← S₀ transition appears to be suppressed.