TY - JOUR A1 - Pellegrino, F. A1 - Pellutiè, L. A1 - Sordello, F. A1 - Minero, C. A1 - Ortel, Erik A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan A1 - Maurino, V. T1 - Influence of agglomeration and aggregation on the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 nanoparticles N2 - Particle aggregation and agglomeration influence the optical properties of materials and therefore theirability to absorb and scatter the incoming radiation, also affecting their photocatalytic activity. Wehave studied the correlation between aggregation and photocatalytic activity for titanium dioxide bymeans of experimental measurements of extinction and photocatalytic activity and calculations of theiroptical properties (extinction, absorption and scattering cross-sections). This approach can be adoptedto quantitatively assess the quantum yields of the heterogeneous photocatalytic systems. The study wasperformed on TiO2PC105 Cristal ACTiVTM, made of aggregated (and agglomerated) primary particles of anatase. The size of the aggregates has been reduced with ultra-sonication. Aqueous suspensions of the obtained materials were characterized by measuring the optical properties (UV–vis extinction), the sizing properties (DLS) and the photocatalytic activity (degradation of phenol under standard con-ditions). The extinction and absorption spectra of the suspensions were derived from the calculatedcoefficients, considering also the size distributions measured with DLS, and revealed that light absorptionis maximized when particle aggregation and agglomeration are avoided, while diffusion of the incomingradiation dominates when large aggregates and agglomerates are present. The present paper represents a valuable approach to the accurate and reproducible measurement of the photocatalytic activity ofTiO2nanoparticles suspensions, thus allowing a more reliable comparison of the properties of different materials. KW - Titanium dioxide KW - Nanoparticles KW - Agglomeration/aggregation KW - Photocatalysis KW - Quantum yield PY - 2017 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcatb.2017.05.046 SN - 0926-3373 SN - 1873-3883 VL - 216 SP - 80 EP - 87 PB - Elsevier B.V. AN - OPUS4-40477 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pauli, Jutta A1 - Wycisk, V. A1 - Welker, P. A1 - Justies, A. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Haag, R. A1 - Licha, K. T1 - Glycerol-Based Contrast Agents: A Novel Series of Dendronized Pentamethine Dyes N2 - The synthesis of water-soluble dyes, which absorb and emit in the range between 650 and 950 nm and display high extinction coefficients (ε) as well as high fluorescence quantum yields (Φf), is still a demand for optical imaging. We now present a synthetic route for the preparation of a new group of glycerol-substituted cyanine dyes from dendronized indole precursors that have been functionalized as Nhydroxysuccinimide (NHS) esters. High Φf values of up to 0.15 and extinction coefficients of up to 189 000 L mol−1 cm−1 were obtained for the pure dyes. Furthermore, conjugates of the new dendronized dyes with the antibody cetuximab (ctx) that were directed against the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) of tumor cells could be prepared with dye to protein ratios between 0.3 and 2.2 to assess their potential as imaging probes. For the first time, ctx conjugates could be achieved without showing a decrease in Φf and with an increasing labeling degree that exceeded the value of the pure dye even at a labeling degree above 2. The incorporation of hydrophilically and sterically demanding dendrimers into cyanines prevented dimer formation after covalent conjugation to the antibody. The binding functionality of the resulting ctx conjugates to the EGFR was successfully demonstrated by cell microscopy studies using EGFR expressing cell lines. In summary, the combination of hydrophilic glycerol dendrons with reactive dye labels has been established for the first time and is a promising Approach toward more powerful fluorescent labels with less dimerization. KW - Dye KW - Quantum yield KW - Fluorescence KW - Contrast agent KW - Extinction coefficient PY - 2015 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.5b00097 SN - 1043-1802 VL - 26 SP - 773 EP - 781 PB - ACS Publications CY - Washington AN - OPUS4-38880 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Meiling, T. A1 - Cywinski, P. A1 - Bald, Ilko T1 - White carbon: Fluorescent carbon nanoparticles with tunable quantum yield in a reproducible green synthesis N2 - In this study, a new reliable, economic, and environmentally-friendly one-step synthesis is established to obtain carbon nanodots (CNDs) with well-defined and reproducible photoluminescence (PL) properties via the microwave-assisted hydrothermal treatment of starch and Tris-acetate-EDTA (TAE) buffer as carbon sources. Three kinds of CNDs are prepared using different sets of above mentioned starting materials. The as-synthesized CNDs: C-CND (starch only), N-CND 1 (starch in TAE) and N-CND 2 (TAE only) exhibit highly homogenous PL and are ready to use without need for further purification. The CNDs are stable over a long period of time (>1 year) either in solution or as freeze-dried powder. Depending on starting material, CNDs with PL quantum yield (PLQY) ranging from less than 1% up to 28% are obtained. The influence of the precursor concentration, reaction time and type of additives on the optical properties (UV-Vis absorption, PL emission spectrum and PLQY) is carefully investigated, providing insight into the chemical processes that occur during CND formation. Remarkably, upon freeze-drying the initially brown CND-solution turns into a non-fluorescent white/slightly Brown powder which recovers PL in aqueous solution and can potentially be applied as fluorescent marker in bio-imaging, as a reduction agent or as a photocatalyst. KW - Carbon dots KW - Quantum yield KW - Fluorescence KW - Nanoparticles PY - 2016 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-367204 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/srep28557 VL - 6 SP - Article 28557, 1 EP - 9 PB - Nature Publishing Group AN - OPUS4-36720 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Sloniec-Myszk, Jagoda ED - Hennig, Andreas T1 - Chiral, J-aggregate-forming dyes for alternative signal modulation mechanisms in self-immolative enzyme-activatable optical probes N2 - Enzyme-activatable optical probes are important for future advances in cancer imaging, but may easily suffer from low signal-to-background ratios unless not optimized. To address this shortcoming, numerous mechanisms to modulate the fluorescence signal have been explored. We report herein newly synthesized probes based on selfimmolative linkers containing chiral J-aggregate-forming dyes. Signal modulation by formation of chiral J-aggregates is yet unexplored in optical enzyme probe design. The comprehensive characterization of the probes by absorption, CD, fluorescence, and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy revealed dye−dye interactions not observed for the free dyes in solution as well as dye−protein interactions with the enzyme. This suggested that J-aggregate formation is challenging to achieve with current probe design and that interactions of the dyes with the Enzyme may interfere with achieving high signal-to-background ratios. The detailed understanding of the interactions provided herein provides valuable guidelines for the future design of similar probes. KW - Signal amplification KW - Fluorescence KW - Quantum yield KW - Optical spectroscopy KW - Dye KW - Cyanine KW - Characterization KW - Assay KW - Chiral KW - Aggregation KW - Activatable probe PY - 2016 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.5b10526 SN - 1520-5207 SN - 1520-6106 VL - 120 IS - 5 SP - 877 EP - 885 PB - ACS Publications AN - OPUS4-35949 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Würth, Christian A1 - Geißler, Daniel A1 - Behnke, Thomas A1 - Kaiser, Martin A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Critical review of the determination of photoluminescence quantum yields of luminescent reporters N2 - A crucial variable for methodical performance evaluation and comparison of luminescent reporters is the photoluminescence quantum yield (Φ pl). This quantity, defined as the number of emitted photons per number of absorbed photons, is the direct measure of the efficiency of the conversion of absorbed photons into emitted light for small organic dyes, fluorescent proteins, metal–ligand complexes, metal clusters, polymeric nanoparticles, and semiconductor and up-conversion nanocrystals. Φ pl determines the sensitivity for the detection of a specific analyte from the chromophore perspective, together with its molar-absorption coefficient at the excitation wavelength. In this review we discuss different optical and photothermal methods for measuring Φ pl of transparent and scattering systems for the most common classes of luminescent reporters, and critically evaluate their potential and limitations. In addition, reporter-specific effects and sources of uncertainty are addressed. The ultimate objective is to provide users of fluorescence techniques with validated tools for the determination of Φ pl, including a series of Φ pl standards for the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared regions, and to enable better judgment of the reliability of literature data. KW - Fluorescence KW - Photoluminescence KW - Quantum yield KW - Organic dye KW - Nanoparticle KW - Quantum dot KW - Up-conversion nanocrystal KW - Optical probe KW - Standard KW - Quality assurance KW - Integrating sphere spectroscopy KW - Photoacoustic spectroscopy KW - Thermal lensing KW - Nanocavity PY - 2015 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-014-8130-z SN - 1618-2642 SN - 1618-2650 VL - 407 IS - 1 SP - 59 EP - 78 PB - Springer CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-32406 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schoetz, U. A1 - Deliolanis, N.C. A1 - Ng, D. A1 - Pauli, Jutta A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Kühn, E. A1 - Heuer, S. A1 - Beisker, W. A1 - Köster, R.W. A1 - Zitzelsberger, H. A1 - Caldwell, R.B. T1 - Usefulness of a Darwinian system in a biotechnological application: evolution of optical window fluorescent protein variants under selective pressure N2 - With rare exceptions, natural evolution is an extremely slow process. One particularly striking exception in the case of protein evolution is in the natural production of antibodies. Developing B cells activate and diversify their immunoglobulin (Ig) genes by recombination, gene conversion (GC) and somatic hypermutation (SHM). Iterative cycles of hypermutation and selection continue until antibodies of high antigen binding specificity emerge (affinity maturation). The avian B cell line DT40, a cell line which is highly amenable to genetic manipulation and exhibits a high rate of targeted integration, utilizes both GC and SHM. Targeting the DT40's diversification machinery onto transgenes of interest inserted into the Ig loci and coupling selective pressure based on the desired outcome mimics evolution. Here we further demonstrate the usefulness of this platform technology by selectively pressuring a large shift in the spectral properties of the fluorescent protein eqFP615 into the highly stable and advanced optical imaging expediting fluorescent protein Amrose. The method is advantageous as it is time and cost effective and no prior knowledge of the outcome protein's structure is necessary. Amrose was evolved to have high excitation at 633 nm and excitation/emission into the far-red, which is optimal for whole-body and deep tissue imaging as we demonstrate in the zebrafish and mouse model. KW - Fluorescent protein KW - Quantum yield PY - 2014 DO - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0107069 SN - 1932-6203 VL - 9 IS - 9 SP - e107069-1 EP - e107069-12 PB - PubMed Central AN - OPUS4-31976 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mathejczyk, J. A1 - Pauli, Jutta A1 - Dullin, C. A1 - Napp, J. A1 - Tietze, L.-F. A1 - Kessler, H. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Alves, F. T1 - Spectroscopically well-characterized RGD optical probe as a prerequisite for lifetime-gated tumor imaging N2 - Labeling of RGD peptides with near-infrared fluorophores yields optical probes for noninvasive imaging of tumors overexpressing ανβ3 integrins. An important prerequisite for optimum detection sensitivity in vivo is strongly absorbing and highly emissive probes with a known fluorescence lifetime. The RGD-Cy5.5 optical probe was derived by coupling Cy5.5 to a cyclic arginine–glycine–aspartic acid–D-phenylalanine–lysine (RGDfK) peptide via an aminohexanoic acid spacer. Spectroscopic properties of the probe were studied in different matrices in comparison to Cy5.5. For in vivo imaging, human glioblastoma cells were subcutaneously implanted into nude mice, and in vivo fluorescence intensity and lifetime were measured. The fluorescence quantum yield and lifetime of Cy5.5 were found to be barely affected on RGD conjugation but dramatically changed in the presence of proteins. By time domain fluorescence imaging, we demonstrated specific binding of RGD-Cy5.5 to glioblastoma xenografts in nude mice. Discrimination of unspecific fluorescence by lifetime-gated analysis further enhanced the detection sensitivity of RGD-Cy5.5-derived signals. We characterized RGD-Cy5.5 as a strongly emissive and stable probe adequate for selective targeting of ανβ3 integrins. The specificity and thus the overall detection sensitivity in vivo were optimized with lifetime gating, based on the previous determination of the probés fluorescence lifetime under application-relevant conditions. KW - Time domain near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) imaging KW - Fluorescence KW - Lifetime KW - Quantum yield KW - RGD-Cy5.5 KW - Spectroscopic analysis PY - 2011 DO - https://doi.org/10.2310/7290.2011.00018 SN - 1535-3508 SN - 1536-0121 VL - 10 IS - 6 SP - 469 EP - 480 PB - Decker CY - Hamilton, Ont. AN - OPUS4-25711 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Würth, Christian A1 - González, M.G. A1 - Niessner, R. A1 - Panne, Ulrich A1 - Haisch, C. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Determination of the absolute fluorescence quantum yield of rhodamine 6G with optical and photoacoustic methods - providing the basis for fluorescence quantum yield standards N2 - To establish the methodical basis for the development and certification of fluorescence quantum yield standards, we determined the fluorescence quantum yield Φf of rhodamine 6G (R6G) with two absolute methods with complementary measurement principles, here optical spectroscopy using an integrating sphere setup and pulsed laser photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS). For the assessment of aggregation- and reabsorption-induced distortions of measured fluorescence quantum yields and procedures for the reliable consideration of such effects, this systematic comparison was performed in ethanol and in water employing different concentrations of R6G. In addition, the relative and absolute fluorescence quantum yields of these solutions were obtained with a calibrated spectrofluorometer and a commercialized integrating sphere setup. Based upon this systematic comparison, experimental advantages and systematic sources of variation were identified for both methods. KW - Fluorescence KW - Photoluminescence KW - Quantum yield KW - Photoacoustic spectroscopy KW - Absolute quantum yield KW - Integrating sphere KW - Rhodamine 6G KW - Aggregation KW - Reabsorption PY - 2012 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.talanta.2011.12.051 SN - 0039-9140 VL - 90 SP - 30 EP - 37 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-25710 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hodenius, M. A1 - Würth, Christian A1 - Jayapaul, J. A1 - Wong, J. E. A1 - Lammers, T. A1 - Gätjens, J. A1 - Arns, S. A1 - Mertens, N. A1 - Slabu, I. A1 - Ivanova, G. A1 - Bornemann, J. A1 - De Cuyper, M. A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute A1 - Kiessling, F. T1 - Fluorescent magnetoliposomes as a platform technology for functional and molecular MR and optical imaging N2 - Here, we present a detailed characterisation of rhodamine B-containing magnetoliposomes (FLU-ML), emphasising the dependence of their fluorescence properties on the presence of iron oxide cores, and the molar fraction of the fluorophore. The magnetoliposome types used exist as colloidally stable, negatively charged clusters with an average hydrodynamic diameter of 95 nm. The molar rhodamine B fractions were 0.67 % and 1.97 %. Rhodamine B normalised fluorescence, quantum yields and fluorescence lifetimes were substantially reduced by inner filter effects as the magnetoliposome concentration is increased, by increasing molar rhodamine B fraction, and by quenching originating from the iron oxide cores. MR relaxometry at 3 T revealed extremely high r2 relaxivities (440 to 554 s-1mM-1) and moderately high r1 values (2.06 to 3.59 s-1mM-1). Upon incubating human prostate carcinoma (PC-3) cells with FLU-ML, a dose-dependent particle internalisation was found by MR relaxometry. In addition, the internalised FLU-ML were clearly visible by fluorescence microscopy. At the FLU-ML concentrations used (up to 3 × 103 M Fe) cell viability was not substantially impaired. These results provide valuable insights on the fluorescence properties of bimodal magnetoliposomes and open promising perspectives for the use of these materials as a platform technology for advanced functional and molecular MR and optical imaging applications. KW - Fluorescent magnetoliposomes KW - Steady state and time resolved fluorometry KW - Quantum yield KW - Fluorescence lifetimes KW - MR relaxivities KW - PC-3 cells KW - Cell viability PY - 2012 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/cmmi.467 SN - 1555-4309 SN - 1555-4317 VL - 7 IS - 1 SP - 59 EP - 67 PB - Wiley CY - Chichester AN - OPUS4-25577 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Würth, Christian A1 - Pauli, Jutta A1 - Lochmann, Cornelia A1 - Spieles, Monika A1 - Resch-Genger, Ute T1 - Integrating sphere setup for the traceable measurement of absolute photoluminescence quantum yields in the near infrared N2 - There is an increasing interest in chromophores absorbing and emitting in the near-infrared (NIR) spectral region, e.g., for applications as fluorescent reporters for optical imaging techniques and hence, in reliable methods for the characterization of their signal-relevant properties like the fluorescence quantum yield (Φf) and brightness. The lack of well established Φf standards for the NIR region in conjunction with the need for accurate Φf measurements in transparent and scattering media encouraged us to built up an integrating sphere setup for spectrally resolved measurements of absolute fluorescence traceable to radiometric scales. Here, we present the design of this setup and its characterization and validation including an uncertainty budget for the determination of absolute Φf in the visible and NIR. To provide the basis for better measurements of Φf in the spectral window from ca. 600 to 1000 nm used, e.g., for optical imaging, the absolute Φf of a set of NIR chromophores covering this spectral region are measured and compared to relative values obtained using rhodamine 101 as Φf standard. Additionally, the absolute Φf values of some red dyes that are among the most commonly used labels in the life sciences are presented as well as the absolute quantum yield of an optical probe for tumor imaging. KW - Fluorescence KW - Photoluminescence KW - Quantum yield KW - Dye KW - Uncertainty KW - Absolute quantum yield KW - Method comparison KW - Integrating sphere KW - NIR KW - Standards KW - Quantum yield standards PY - 2012 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/ac2021954 SN - 0003-2700 SN - 1520-6882 VL - 84 IS - 3 SP - 1345 EP - 1352 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-25504 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -