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INTRAMOLECULAR EXCIMER FLUORESCENCE: A NEW PROBE OF PHASE TRANSITIONS IN SYNTHETIC PHOSPHOLIPID MEMBRANES
Author(s) -
Georgescauld D.,
Desmasèz J. P.,
Lapouyadej R.,
Babeau A.,
Richard H.,
Winnik Mitchell
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
photochemistry and photobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.818
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1751-1097
pISSN - 0031-8655
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-1097.1980.tb03743.x
Subject(s) - excimer , membrane , pyrene , fluorescence , intramolecular force , chemistry , phospholipid , photochemistry , chromophore , molecule , excited state , solvent , organic chemistry , physics , biochemistry , quantum mechanics , nuclear physics
— The molecule (1,1'‐dipyrenyl)‐methyl ether [dipyme] shows intramolecular excimer fluorescence in competition with fluorescence from the locally excited pyrene chromophore. This intensity ratio I c /I m is sensitive to solvent viscosity. The molecule is soluble in synthetic phospholipid membranes. 1 H NMR studies suggest that the molecule is localized in the hydrocarbon region of the membrane. Fluorescence measurements at various temperatures of dipyme dissolved in these membranes show that I c /I m is exceedingly sensitive to fluidity changes accompanying both the pretransitions and the gel to liquid crystalline transitions of the membrane. These studies can be carried out at a mole ratio of probe to lipid 10 2 ‐10 3 smaller than that necessary to observe bimolecular pyrene excimer formation.