ABSTRACT:  The study of long lived emissive probes has been a hot issue within the past few years, since they can improve the sensitivity and accuracy of detection when used in combination with time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy (TRPS). The purpose of this work is to provide the fundaments of a general methodology for the optimal use of TRPS to improve the detection power of photoluminescent probes. We used molecular beacon probes, which are probes that can sense specific sequences of DNA and RNA, as model system to demonstrate the power of TRPS in improving probe performance. Ruthenium and iridium complexes were introduced as photoluminescent dyes. By applying time-gated methodology, the signal-to-background ratios can be enhanced by a 100% with a concomitant improvement in the detection limit. Besides, based on the same technology, long lived probes based on iridium complexes were further developed for detection of amino acids.

Optimizing the sensitivity of photoluminescent probes using time-resolved spectroscopy approaches

247th National Meeting (2014)

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