Influence of Quadrupolar Molecular Transitions within Plasmonic Cavities

Optical nanocavities have revolutionized the manipulation of radiative properties of molecular and semiconductor emitters. Here, we investigate the amplified photoluminescence arising from exciting a dark transition of β-carotene molecules embedded within plasmonic nanocavities. Integrating a molecular monolayer into nanoparticle-on-mirror nanostructures unveils enhancements surpassing 4 orders of magnitude in the initially light-forbidden excitation. Such pronounced enhancements transcend conventional dipolar mechanisms, underscoring the presence of alternative enhancement pathways. Notably, Fourier-plane scattering spectroscopy shows that the photoluminescence excitation resonance aligns with a higher-order plasmonic cavity mode, which supports strong field gradients. Combining quantum chemistry calculations with electromagnetic simulations reveals an important interplay between the Franck-Condon quadrupole and Herzberg-Teller dipole contributions in governing the absorption characteristics of this dark transition. In contrast to free space, the quadrupole moment plays a significant role in photoluminescence enhancement within nanoparticle-on-mirror cavities. These findings provide an approach to access optically inactive transitions, promising advancements in spectroscopy and sensing applications.

2D excitation-emission fluorescence mapping analysis of plant food pigments

Homogeneous dispersion of plant food pigments is indispensable to study their characteristic fluorescence features for non-destructive rapid monitoring of food systems. However, it is highly challenging to obtain such optical grade homogenized stable dispersion of various plant pigments in aqueous media for tracing their precise fluorescence signatures. Herein, we demonstrate a unique strategy to disperse various pigments, such as chlorophylls, carotenoids and phenolic compounds by the high-speed shear-force mixing of fresh green and red bell peppers (Capsicum annuum) in an aqueous medium with followed centrifugation and filtration. An advanced FLuorescence Excitation-emission (FLE) mapping and optical absorption analysis from the optical grade aqueous bell peppers dispersion allow simultaneous probing of chlorophylls, phenolic compounds and carotenoids by their characteristic electronic transitions. The demonstrated sampling protocols and spectroscopic analysis will be highly beneficial to obtain advanced spectroscopic databases from different food materials for rapid food analysis and quality control.

Characterization of Corn Oil Using Fluorescence Spectroscopy

In these studies, Fluorescence spectroscopy has been utilized for the characterization of pure and commercially available corn oil. The best excitation wavelength of 380 nm has been investigated, where maximum spectral information can be assessed. The emission spectra from pure and commercial corn oil samples disclosed that pure corn oil contained oleic acid, beta-carotenes, chlorophylls, isomers of vitamin E and traces of oxidized products which exhibit fluorescence at 406, 525, 675, 440 and 435/475 nm respectively. Whereas, commercial corn oils lack these valuable ingredients and only contain fats along with their primary and secondary oxidized products that emit a broad emission band centred at 440 nm. The study has also depicted that Fluorescence spectroscopy can even be used to select best quality corn oil among pure corn oil samples with different varieties and seed origins. In addition, the effect of temperature on the composition of pure and commercial corn oil samples have also been investigated by heating them at 100, 120,140, 160, 180 and 200 °C each sample for 30 min. This was done because corn oil is being used for cooking where it is generally heated up to 120 °C and for deep frying up to 180 °C. On heating, in pure corn oil, deterioration of Vitamin-E and beta-carotenes occurred with an increase in the oxidation products, whereas, in commercial oil samples, only the concentration of oxidation products increased. However, it was found that up to 140 °C, pure corn oil can be used safely for cooking purpose where it does not lose much of its valuable ingredients while in commercial corn oils, fat composition does not alter much up to 180 °C and after that oxidized products start to increase rapidly.

Application of Optical Fluorescence Spectroscopy for Studying Bee Abundance in Tropaeolum majus L. (Tropaeolaceae)

Tropaeolum majus L. species produce flowers with all sorts of colors, from yellow to red. This work aimed to apply optical fluorescence spectroscopy to study bee abundance in T. majus, answering the following questions: (1) do corolla temperature and weather conditions affect the abundance of visiting bee species? (2) do flower color and corolla fluorescence affect the abundance of visiting bee species? (3) do red flowers attract more visiting bees? (4) is there a relationship between bee visits and flower compounds? The bee species Apis mellifera, Paratrigona lineata, and Trigona spinipes were the most observed in T. majus flowers. The latter was more active in the morning and preferred orange and yellow flowers. These colors also had higher temperatures and fluorescence emissions than did the red ones and those with yellow-red and orange-red nectar guides. Orange flowers emitted a broadband UV spectrum (between 475 and 800 nm). This range might be due to compounds such as hydroxycinnamic acid, flavonols, isoflavonoids, flavones, phenolic acid, and chlorophyll. Extracts from different T. majus corolla colors showed that flowers emit specific fluorescent signals, mainly related to bee color vision and learning, thus acting as a means of communication between bees and flowers. In this way, this information evidences the interaction between bees and T. majus flowers, allowing conservation actions for pollinators.

Fluorescence Spectroscopy Based Detection of Adulteration in Desi Ghee

Desi ghee, obtained by buffalo and cow milk, is highly expensive because it contains valuable vitamins and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). Its high demand and cost result in to its adulteration with inferior banaspati ghee. In this study, Fluorescence spectroscopy along with multivariate analysis has been utilised for the detection and quantification of adulteration. Spectroscopic analysis showed that buffalo ghee contains more vitamins and CLA than cow, whereas cow ghee is enriched with beta-carotene. For multivariate analysis, principle component analysis (PCA) and partial least square regression (PLSR) have been applied on the spectral data for the determination of adulteration. PLSR model was authenticated by predicting 23 unknown samples including 3 commercial brands of desi ghee. The root mean square error in prediction (RMSEP) of unknown samples was found to be 1.7 which is a reasonable value for quantitative prediction. Due to non-destructive and requiring no sample pre-treatment, this method can effectively be employed as on line characterization tool for the food safety assurance.

Characterization of canola oil extracted by different methods using fluorescence spectroscopy

The potential of fluorescence spectroscopy has been utilized for the characterization of three types of canola oil samples: the first type was obtained by dissolving its seeds in hexane solvent, the second by cold press method, and the third from eight commercial brands. Fluorescence spectra from all samples have been acquired by using excitation wavelengths from 280 to 420 nm with step of 10 nm to investigate their valuable ingredients. The emission bands at 375, 525 and 673 nm that represent vitamin E/beta-carotene and chlorophyll, are present only in canola oil samples extracted by chemical and cold press methods and absolutely absent from all commercial brands. The emission band at 440 nm appearing only in the commercial oil brands, is assigned to oxidized products of isomers of vitamin E and fatty acids. In addition, the effect of temperature on the canola oil extracted by cold press method has been investigated which showed that up to 180 ^oC it does not lose much of its natural molecular composition. However, it showed a trend of thermal oxidation with rise of temperature.

Enhancement of carotenoid bioaccessibility from carrots using excipient emulsions: influence of particle size of digestible lipid droplets

The influence of initial lipid droplet size on the ability of excipient emulsions to increase carotenoid bioaccessibility from carrots was investigated using a simulated gastrointestinal tract (GIT).

Spectroscopic Studies of the Low-Lying Singlet Excited Electronic States and Photochemical Properties of Carotenoids

Investigations of the singlet excited state properties of carotenoids using steady-state fluorescence, transient absorption pump-probe, two-photon excitation, and resonance Raman excitation spectroscopies are described. The application of these experimental techniques to the specific problem of determining the S1 excited energies of carotenoids is discussed in detail, and the recent literature pertaining to the assignment of charge transfer states in carotenoids and states described as having particular pseudoparity elements is reviewed. Hypothetical schemes for how these states may account for some of the dynamic and photochemical behavior of carotenoids are presented.

Mechanism of nonphotochemical quenching in green plants: energies of the lowest excited singlet states of violaxanthin and zeaxanthin

The xanthophyll cycle is an enzymatic, reversible process through which the carotenoids violaxanthin, antheraxanthin, and zeaxanthin are interconverted in response to the need to balance light absorption with the capacity to use the energy to drive the reactions of photosynthesis. The cycle is thought to be one of the main avenues for safely dissipating excitation energy absorbed by plants in excess of that needed for photosynthesis. One of the key factors needed to elucidate the molecular mechanism by which the potentially damaging excess energy is dissipated is the energy of the lowest excited singlet (S(1)) state of the xanthophyll pigments. Absorption from the ground state (S(0)) to S(1) is forbidden by symmetry, making a determination of the S(1) state energies of these molecules by absorption spectroscopy very difficult. Fluorescence spectroscopy is potentially the most direct method for obtaining the S(1) state energies. However, because of problems with sample purity, low emission quantum yields, and detection sensitivity, fluorescence spectra from these molecules, until now, have never been reported. In this work these technical obstacles have been overcome, and S(1) --> S(0) fluorescence spectra of violaxanthin and zeaxanthin are presented. The energies of the S(1) states deduced from the fluorescence spectra are 14 880 +/- 90 cm(-)(1) for violaxanthin and 14 550 +/- 90 cm(-)(1) for zeaxanthin. The results provide important insights into the mechanism of nonphotochemical dissipation of excess energy in plants.

Low-lying electronic states of carotenoids

Four all-trans carotenoids, spheroidene, 3,4-dihydrospheroidene, 3,4,5,6-tetrahydrospheroidene, and 3,4,7,8-tetrahydrospheroidene, have been purified using HPLC techniques and analyzed using absorption, fluorescence and fluorescence excitation spectroscopy of room temperature solutions. This series of molecules, for which the extent of pi-electron conjugation decreases from 10 to seven carbon-carbon double bonds, exhibits a systematic crossover from S2----S0 (1(1)Bu----1(1)Ag) to S1----S0 (2(1)Ag----1(1)Ag) emission with decreasing chain length. Extrapolation of the S1----S0 transition energies indicates that the 2(1)Ag states of longer carotenoids have considerably lower energies than previously thought. The energies of the S1 states of spheroidenes and other long carotenoids are correlated with the S1 energies of their chlorophyll partners in antenna complexes of photosynthetic systems. Implications for energy transfer in photosynthetic antenna are discussed.

Fluorescence excitation profiles of beta-carotene in solution and in lipid/water mixtures

Intrinsic fluorescence from all-trans beta-carotene molecules in solution and embedded in lipid/water mixtures has been observed under laser excitation and its excitation profiles measured. The profiles closely correspond to the absorption spectra. The observations can be explained in terms of a low-lying 1Ag excited state.

CHLOROPHYLL a AND CAROTENOID AGGREGATES AND ENERGY MIGRATION IN MONOLAYERS AND THIN FILMS

Abstract— The spectra of absorption, fluorescence and excitation of monolayers and thin films containing chlorophyll a together with a carotenoid (cis‐β‐carotene, trans‐β‐carotene, fucoxanthin, or zeaxanthin), were measured at — 196°C. The concentration ratios used, (Chl)/(Car), were 6:1, 4:1, 3:1, 2:1, 1:1 and 1:3, and the area densities, 3·70, 2·55, 1·76, 0·71, 0·37 and 0·17 nm2/pigment molecule.

In dilute monolayers, (3·70 nm2/molecule), with a constant concentration ratio (Chl)/(Car) = 3:1, evidence of three β‐carotene forms, with absorption bands at 460, 500 and 520 nm (C460, C500 and C520), and of a chlorophyll a form with an absorption band at 669–672 (Chl669–672) was found. On increasing the density to 0·2–0·3 nm2/molecule, a conversion of C460 and C520 into C500, was observed, and several more additional (probably more strongly aggregated) chlorophyll a forms appeared, with absorption bands at 672–733 nm. With excess carotene [(Chi)/(Car) = 1:3] the forms C460, C500, C520 and Chl669–672 were present even in the most dense films (0·2–0·3 nm2/molecule). The same was found with other carotenoids: if one of the pigments was in excess, aggregated forms of the other tended to disappear.

In the transfer of energy from carotenoids to chlorophyll a, C500 was found to be the main donor. In layers with a concentration ratio (Chl)/(Car) = 3:1, the efficiency of transfer was less than 10 per cent at the lowest density used (3·70 nm2/molecule); it increased to 50 per cent, as the density was increased to 0·20 nm2/molecule. When the relative concentration of the carotenoid was increased to (Chl)/(Car) = 1:1, the efficiency of energy transfer dropped to 25 per cent even at 0·20 nm2/molecule. It seems that the efficiency of energy transfer between carotene molecules (prior to its transfer to chlorophyll a) is low, and effective transfer occurs only between β‐carotene and immediately adjacent chlorophyll a molecules.