When more than a hundred organic dyes are covalently-bound to the 28 nm icosahedral shell of the brome mosaic virus, the fluorescence emission changes qualitatively with respect to conventional fluorescent probes. Its unusual characteristics include: emission dynamics takes the form of a delayed, sharp burst of several picoseconds instead of a long, several nanoseconds exponential decay, the turnover rate reaches 100 GHz, the chromophore concentration per particle is ∼30 mM without quenching. Moreover, the well-defined binding site number and locations provides for a uniquely monodisperse sample. The virus template is crucial for the observation of the novel photonic characteristics. Understanding the physical phenomena underlying them requires an understanding and control of the virus template mechanical, and chemical properties. We will present the empirical rules that we have discovered and that lead to super fluorescence, the mechanistic ideas partially explaining them, and the potential applications of the new nanophotonic virus-based platform.

Superbright viromimetic particles for improved diagnostics and imaging

Where thousands of chemistry professionals meet to share ideas and advance scientific and technical knowledge. Spring 2023 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch at the end of March.

ACS Spring 2023

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.