In recent years, single-molecule fluorescence microscopy has become an invaluable tool to investigate chemical reactions and provide fundamental mechanistic insights for their development and improvement. In the context of transition metal and metal nanoparticle catalysis, single-molecule techniques offer the means to determine the true nature of the catalysis, whether homogeneous (due to dissolution of a catalyst or ion leaching into the reaction media) or fully heterogeneous, and to clearly identify the catalytically active regions. Activatable fluorophores that switch from a nonemissive state to an emissive state can be a useful addition to the toolbox of molecular probes available for the acquisition of fluorescence images of a chemical reaction occurring upon activation by an inorganic catalyst. Such a concatenation of activation and excitation events translates into the possibility of turning the fluorescence exclusively within the actual active spots of the catalyst, and allows monitoring of dynamic processes in real time with high selectivity. As a result, activatable fluorescent probes are precious analytical tools to investigate the structure and the dynamics of a diversity of materials. The mechanisms responsible for fluorescence switching in catalysis-activatable fluorophores require the coupling of a selective chemical reaction (activation) with a photophysical process (emission) and, as such, the design of fluorogenic probes is tailored to the structural or electronic properties of the catalytic material of interest. The discussion will focus on examples of activatable probes and their application for the study of a diversity of inorganic catalysts with single-molecule fluorescence microscopy.

Design and applications of single-molecule switches for the investigation of inorganic catalysts with fluorescence microscopy

251st National Meeting (2016)

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