Molecular Photonics Laboratory

Molecular Photonics Laboratory

Artificial Light-Harvesting Arrays: Electronic Energy Migration and Trapping on a Sphere and between Spheres

A sophisticated model of the natural light-harvesting antenna has been devised by decorating a C60 hexa-adduct with ten yellow and two blue boron dipyrromethene (Bodipy) dyes in such a way that the dyes retain their individuality and assist solubility of the fullerene. Unusually, the fullerene core is a poor electron acceptor and does not enter into light-induced electron-transfer reactions with the appended dyes, but ineffective electronic energy transfer from the excited-state dye to the C60 residue competes with fluorescence from the yellow dye. Intraparticle electronic energy transfer from yellow to blue dyes can be followed by steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy and by excitation spectra for isolated C60 nanoparticles dissolved in dioxane at 293 K and at 77 K. Full article


Colour Responsive Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) Probes

A new collaboration of Benniston and Yucel (Turkey) is developing fluorescence colour responsive probes for reactive oxygen species. The first prototype systems are based on the hydroquinone/quinone couple, and alter their emission colour from red (quinone) to blue (hydroquinone) reversibly. Switching of colour is maintained by the addition of hydrogen peroxide to the hydroquinone form and ascorbate to the quinone form in a water/micelle mixture. The work published as the front cover in Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry is being developed further, by manufacture of amphiphilic molecular systems, attempting to enhance the colour response and introduce ROS selectivity. Full article


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