The role of microenvironments on computed vibrationally-resolved emission spectra: The case of oxazines

Oxazine dyes act as reporters of their near environment by the response of their fluorescence spectra. At the same time, their fluorescence spectra exhibit a pronounced vibrational progression. In this work, we computationally investigate the impact of near-environment models consisting of aggregated water as well as betaine molecules on the vibrational profile of fluorescence spectra of different oxazine derivatives. For aggregated betaine and a water molecule located above the plane of the dyes, we observe a distinct modification of the vibrational profile, which is more pronounced than the effect of a continuum description of a solvent environment. Our analysis shows that this effect cannot be explained by a pure change in the electronic structure, but that also vibrational degrees of freedom of the environment can be decisive for the vibrational profile and should, hence, not generally be neglected.

All-quantum dot based Förster resonant energy transfer: key parameters for high-efficiency biosensing

While colloidal quantum dots (QDs) are commonly used as fluorescent donors within biosensors based on Förster resonant energy transfer (FRET), they are hesitantly employed as acceptors. On the sole basis of Förster theory and the well-known behaviour of organic dyes, it is often argued that the QD absorption band over the UV-visible range is too wide. Discarding these preconceptions inherited from classical fluorophores, we experimentally examine the FRET process occurring between donor and acceptor CdTe QDs and provide a mathematical description of it. We evidence that the specific features of QDs unexpectedly lead to the enhancement of acceptors' emission (up to +400%), and are thus suitable for the design of highly efficient all-QD based FRET sensors. Our model enables us to identify the critical parameters maximizing the contrast between positive and negative biosensing readouts: the concentrations of donors and acceptors, their spectral overlap, the densities of their excitonic states, their dissipative coupling with the medium and the statistics of QD-QD chemical pairing emerge as subtle and determinant parameters. We relate them quantitatively to the measured QD-QD FRET efficiency and discuss how they must be optimized for biosensing applications.

Molecular co-localization of multiple drugs in a nanoscopic delivery vehicle for potential synergistic remediation of multi-drug resistant bacteria

Anti-microbial resistant infection is predicted to be alarming in upcoming years. In the present study, we proposed co-localization of two model drugs viz., rifampicin and benzothiazole used in anti-tuberculosis and anti-fungal agents respectively in a nanoscopic cationic micelle (cetyl triethyl ammonium bromide) with hydrodynamic diameter of 2.69 nm. Sterilization effect of the co-localized micellar formulation against a model multi-drug resistant bacterial strain viz., Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus was also investigated. 99.88% decrease of bacterial growth in terms of colony forming unit was observed using the developed formulation. While Dynamic Light Scattering and Forsters Resonance Energy Transfer between benzothiazole and rifampicin show co-localization of the drugs in the nanoscopic micellar environment, analysis of time-resolved fluorescence decays by Infelta-Tachiya model and the probability distribution of the donor-acceptor distance fluctuations for 5 μM,10 μM and 15 μM acceptor concentrations confirm efficacy of the co-localization. Energy transfer efficiency and the donor acceptor distance are found to be 46% and 20.9 Å respectively. We have also used a detailed computational biology framework to rationalize the sterilization effect of our indigenous formulation. It has to be noted that the drugs used in our studies are not being used for their conventional indication. Rather the co-localization of the drugs in the micellar environment shows a completely different indication of their use in the remediation of multi-drug resistant bacteria revealing the re-purposing of the drugs for potential use in hospital-born multi-drug resistant bacterial infection.

A homogeneous enzyme-free ratiometric immunoassay for the determination of C-peptide

In this study, a homogeneous enzyme-free ratiometric (HOMO- EF-RA) immunoassay was developed for the sensitive detection of C-peptide. In the immunoassay, there have been a miscible detection system by mixing with the fluorescent quantum dots conjugated antigen (QD-Ag conjugates) and the dylight dye conjugated antibody (DL-Ab conjugates). When connecting between Ag-QD conjugate and Ab-DL conjugate by specific recognition, the system emitted fluorescence resonant energy transfer (FRET). The target C-peptide can inhibit the connection and FRET formation between QD-Ag conjugates and DL-Ab conjugates, thus changing the dual fluorescence. By measuring the ratio dual fluorescence changes of the system, the content of C-peptide was evaluated without any enzyme used and multiple incubation and washing steps. This immunoassay realized the highly sensitive (as low as 0.12 ng mL^-1), selective and rapid (as less as 6 min) detection of C-peptide. Furthermore, the the simple and convenient immunoassay was applied successfully to the determination of C-peptide in real serum samples.

Realization of a Model-Free Pathway for Quantum Dot-Protein Interaction Beyond Classical Protein Corona or Protein Complex

Although in recent times nanoparticles (NPs) are being used in various biological applications, their mechanism of binding interactions still remains hazy. Usually, the binding mechanism is perceived to be mediated through either the protein corona (PC) or protein complex (PCx). Herein, we report that the nanoparticle (NP)-protein interaction can also proceed via a different pathway without forming the commonly observed PC or PCx. In the present study, the NP-protein interaction between less-toxic zinc-silver-indium-sulfide (ZAIS) quantum dots (QDs) and bovine serum albumin (BSA) was investigated by employing spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. Although the analyses of data obtained from fluorescence and thermodynamic studies do indicate the binding between QDs and BSA, they do not provide clear experimental evidence in favor of PC or PCx. Quite interestingly, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) studies have shown the formation of a new type of species where BSA protein molecules are adsorbed onto some portion of a QD surface rather than the entire surface. To the best of our knowledge, we believe that this is the first direct experimental evidence in favor of a model-free pathway for NP-protein interaction events. Thus, the outcome of the present study, through experimental evidence, clearly suggests that NP-protein interaction can proceed by following a pathway that is different from classical PC and PCx.

Probing the Interaction of Bovine Serum Albumin with Copper Nanoclusters: Realization of Binding Pathway Different from Protein Corona

With an aim to understand the interaction mechanism of bovine serum albumin (BSA) with copper nanoclusters (CuNCs), three different types CuNCs having chemically different surface ligands, namely, tannic acid (TA), chitosan, and cysteine (Cys), have been fabricated, and investigations are carried out in the absence and presence of protein (BSA) at ensemble-averaged and single-molecule levels. The CuNCs, capped with different surface ligands, are consciously chosen so that the role of surface ligands in the overall protein-NCs interactions is clearly understood, but, more importantly, to find whether these CuNCs can interact with protein in a new pathway without forming the "protein corona", which otherwise has been observed in relatively larger nanoparticles when they are exposed to biological fluids. Analysis of the data obtained from fluorescence, ζ-potential, and ITC measurements has clearly indicated that the BSA protein in the presence of CuNCs does not attain the binding stoichiometry (BSA/CuNCs > 1) that is required for the formation of "protein corona". This conclusion is further substantiated by the outcome of the fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) study. Further analysis of data and thermodynamic calculations have revealed that the surface ligands of the CuNCs play an important role in the protein-NCs binding events, and they can alter the mode and thermodynamics of the process. Specifically, the data have demonstrated that the binding of BSA with TA-CuNCs and Chitosan-CuNCs follows two types of binding modes; however, the same with Cys-CuNCs goes through only one type of binding mode. Circular dichroism (CD) measurements have indicated that the basic structure of BSA remains almost unaltered in the presence of CuNCs. The outcome of the present study is expected to encourage and enable better application of NCs in biological applications.

Large-Scale DNA Nanoarrays with a Controllable Fluorescence Switch Constructed by RCA Simplified Origami

The manufacture of large-scale and highly ordered fluorescent assemblies has received more and more scientific attention in recent years. An ingenious and low-cost strategy for constructing large-scale DNA nanoarrays by rolling circle amplification (RCA) and a simplified DNA origami technique is proposed in this study. Thrombins are used to trigger the excitation of the fluorescent groups modified on the aptamer staple strands of nanoladders, which leads to the delicate construction of millimeter large-scale fluorescent nanoarrays, whose fluorescence intensity could be effectively regulated by the concentration of thrombin. The above fluorescent nanoarrays will generate a potential application value in the fields of biosensors, super-resolution imaging, and novel light-emitting devices.

Electrostatically Driven Resonance Energy Transfer in an All-Quantum Dot Based Donor-Acceptor System

Demonstration of fundamental photophysical properties in environmentally friendly quantum dots (QDs) is essential to realize their practical use in various light harvesting applications. We accomplish here an efficient light induced resonance energy transfer in all-QD based donor-acceptor system in water, deprived of any commonly used organic dye component. Our nanohybrid system comprises surface engineered indium phosphide/zinc sulfide (InP/ZnS) QD as the donor, and copper indium sulfide/zinc sulfide (CIS/ZnS) QD as the acceptor. The electrostatic attraction between oppositely charged QDs is vital in achieving a strong ground state complexation in the [-] InP/ZnS:::[+] CIS/ZnS QD nanohybrid. A nonlinear Stern-Volmer plot confirms the involvement of both static and dynamic components in the PL quenching of InP/ZnS QD by CIS/ZnS QD. Moreover, a temporal evolution of resonance energy transfer is realized in the solid state as well, which can improve the potential of such "all-green QD" based nanohybrid systems for device level studies.

CdTe QDs based fluorescent sensor for the determination of gallic acid in tea

A new fluorescent light switch method, which based on N‑acetyl‑l‑cysteine capped CdTe QDs (NALC-CdTe QDs), was developed for the detection of gallic acid (GA). The QDs possess a fluorescence emission wavelength at 520nm and with symmetric fluorescence. When KMnO₄ is added, the high fluorescence of QDs could be effectively quenched for the electron transfer process between KMnO₄ and QDs. But with the addition of GA, the fluorescence of KMnO₄-QDs system could recover for the reason that redox reaction of GA and KMnO₄. Therefore, a fluorescent light switch method could be used for GA with a detection range of 0.6-12.6μg·mL^-1 and a detection limit of 0.56ng·mL^-1. Furthermore, the feasibility of the proposed fluorescence biosensor in tea was also studied and satisfactory results were obtained.

Highly efficient energy transfer from a water soluble zinc silver indium sulphide quantum dot to organic J-aggregates

Highly efficient energy transfer from a water soluble quantum dot to organic J-aggregates in an inorganic–organic nanohybrid associate.

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer in multifunctional nanofibers designed via block copolymer self-assembly

In the present study, we demonstrate the fabrication of multifunctional nanofibers, loaded with CdSe quantum dots (QDs) and sulforhodamine 101 (S101) dye, via the self-assembly process of a polystyrene-block-poly(4-vinylpyridine) (PS-b-P4VP) block copolymer (BCP). The CdSe QDs and S101 dye were simultaneously incorporated in the cylindrical domains, constituted of P4VP blocks, of the self-assembled BCP structure. The cylindrical domains subsequently were isolated as individual nanofibers via the selective-swelling approach. The confinement imposed due to the nano-dimension geometry of the cylindrical domains enabled the QDs and S101 dye to localize within their Förster radius enabling an efficient fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between them. The mean lifetime of donor emission varied from 4.56 to 3.38 ns with the change in the ratio of S101 dye and CdSe QDs within the nanofibers. Furthermore, using efficiency measurements and the corresponding Förster distances, donor-acceptor distances were determined. Moreover, the kinetics of energy transfer from CdSe QDs to S101 was studied by the Poisson binding model, to understand the interactions between CdSe QDs and S101 dye molecules. The numbers of dye molecules per CdSe QD were determined, by assuming random distribution of S101 dye molecules around the CdSe QDs in the nanofibers. The results showed that the number of dye molecules per QD increased with increasing concentration of dye molecules in the nanofibers. The resulting multifunctional nanofibers could have potential applications in optoelectronics, photonics and sensors which utilize the FRET process.