Review - Flavins as photoreceptors of blue light and their spectroscopic properties

A novel eco-friendly polymeric photosensitizer based on chitosan and flavin mononucleotide

Flavin mononucleotide (FMN) is a dye belonging to the flavin family. These dyes produce photosensitized degradation of organic compounds via reaction with the excited states of the dye or with reactive oxygen species photogenerated from the triplet of the dye. This article presents a new polymeric dye (FMN-CS) composed of the photosensitizer FMN covalently bonded to chitosan polysaccharide (CS). FMN-CS obtained has a molecular weight of 230 × 103 g mol-1 and a deacetylation degree of 74.8%. The polymeric dye is an environmentally friendly polymer with spectroscopic and physicochemical properties similar to those of FMN and CS, respectively. Moreover, under sunlight, it is capable of generating 1O2 with a quantum yield of 0.31. FMN-CS, like CS, is insoluble in basic media. This allows easy recovery of the polymeric dye once the photosensitized process has been carried out and makes FMN-CS a suitable photosensitizer for the degradation of pollutants in contaminated waters. To evaluate whether FMN-CS may be used for pollutant degradation, the photosensitized degradation of two trihydroxybenzenes by FMN-CS was studied.

Co-crystallization of organic chromophore roseolumiflavin and effect on its optical characteristics

Three roseolumiflavin co-crystals are designed to elucidate the accessibility of flavins for the targeted tuning of luminescence in the solid state.

Cesium Cation Complexation by a Flavin Receptor via Self-Assembly and Deprotonation

This study focuses on the self-assembly of a new flavin compound and its scaffolding function for a Cs+ ion. 7,8-Dimethyl-10-[4'-(methoxycarbonyl)phenyl]-isoalloxazine (FlH-MB) displays self-assembly in a DMSO solution and has strong dependence on the solvent. In the DMSO solution, both the resulting scaffold and the deprotonation of FlH-MB were demonstrated to induce complex formation with a Cs+ ion, which was investigated by UV-vis, 1H NMR, and fluorescence titrations. This complex formation involves both Coulombic and cation-π interactions through the Fl- site in an Fl--MB dimer.

The Luminescence of 1,8-Diazafluoren-9-One/Titanium Dioxide Composite Thin Films for Optical Application

The investigation of innovative label-free α-amino acids detection methods represents a crucial step for the early diagnosis of several diseases. While 1,8-diazafluoren-9-one (DFO) is known in forensic application because of the fluorescent products by reacting with the amino acids present in the papillary exudate, its application for diagnostic purposes has not been fully investigated. The stabilization of DFO over a transparent substrate allows its complexation with biomolecules for the detection of α-amino acids. In this study, DFO was immobilized into a titanium dioxide (TiO₂) matrix for the fluorescence detection of glycine, as a target α-amino acid (a potential marker of the urogenital tract cancers). The DFO/TiO₂ composite was characterized by atomic force microscopy, spectroscopic ellipsometry, fluorescence spectroscopy and fluorescence microscopy. The performed fluorescent studies indicate spectacular formation of aggregates at higher concentration. The measurements performed using various fluorescence and microscopic techniques together with the suitable analysis show that the aggregates are able to emit short-lived fluorescence.