Specific Interactions in the Inclusion Complexes of Pyronines Y and B with β-Cyclodextrin

An overview from simple host-guest systems to progressively complex supramolecular assemblies

Supramolecular chemistry involving macrocyclic hosts is a highly interdisciplinary and fast-growing research field in chemistry, biochemistry, and materials science. Host-guest based supramolecular assemblies, as constructed through non-covalent interactions, are highly dynamic in nature, and can be tuned easily using their responses to various external stimuli, providing a convenient approach to achieve excellent functional materials. Macrocyclic hosts, particularly cyclodextrins, cucurbit[n]urils, and calix[n]arenes, which have unique features like possessing hydrophobic cavities of different sizes, along with hydrophilic external surfaces, which are also amenable towards easy derivatizations, are versatile cavitands or host molecules to encapsulate diverse guest molecules to form stable host-guest complexes with many unique structures and properties. Interestingly, host-guest complexes possessing amphiphilic properties can easily lead to the formation of various advanced supramolecular assemblies, like pseudorotaxanes, rotaxanes, polyrotaxanes, supramolecular polymers, micelles, vesicles, supramolecular nanostructures, and so on. Moreover, these supramolecular assemblies, with varied morphologies and responsiveness towards external stimuli, have immense potential for applications in nanotechnology, materials science, biosensors, drug delivery, analytical chemistry and biomedical sciences. In this perspective, we present a stimulating overview, discussing simple host-guest systems to complex supramolecular assemblies in a systematic manner, aiming to encourage future researchers in this fascinating area of supramolecular chemistry to develop advanced supramolecular materials with superior functionalities, for their deployment in diverse applied areas.

Supramolecular and suprabiomolecular photochemistry: a perspective overview

In this perspective review article, we have attempted to bring out the important current trends of research in the areas of supramolecular and suprabiomolecular photochemistry. Since the spans of the subject areas are very vast, it is impossible to cover all the aspects within the limited space of this review article. Nevertheless, efforts have been made to assimilate the basic understanding of how supramolecular interactions can significantly change the photophysical and other related physiochemical properties of chromophoric dyes and drugs, which have enormous academic and practical implications. We have discussed with reference to relevant chemical systems where supramolecularly assisted modulations in the properties of chromophoric dyes and drugs can be used or have already been used in different areas like sensing, dye/drug stabilization, drug delivery, functional materials, and aqueous dye laser systems. In supramolecular assemblies, along with their conventional photophysical properties, the acid-base properties of prototropic dyes, as well as the excited state prototautomerization and related proton transfer behavior of proton donor/acceptor dye molecules, are also largely modulated due to supramolecular interactions, which are often reflected very explicitly through changes in their absorption and fluorescence characteristics, providing us many useful insights into these chemical systems and bringing out intriguing applications of such changes in different applied areas. Another interesting research area in supramolecular photochemistry is the excitation energy transfer from the donor to acceptor moieties in self-assembled systems which have immense importance in light harvesting applications, mimicking natural photosynthetic systems. In this review article, we have discussed varieties of these aspects, highlighting their academic and applied implications. We have tried to emphasize the progress made so far and thus to bring out future research perspectives in the subject areas concerned, which are anticipated to find many useful applications in areas like sensors, catalysis, electronic devices, pharmaceuticals, drug formulations, nanomedicine, light harvesting, and smart materials.

Cyclodextrin-Based Synthesis and Host-Guest Chemistry of Plasmonic Nanogap Particles with Strong, Quantitative, and Highly Multiplexable Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Signals

We developed a synthetic strategy to form cyclodextrin-based intrananogap particles (CIPs) with a well-defined ∼1 nm interior gap in a high yield (∼97%), and were able to incorporate 10 different Raman dyes inside the gap using the cyclodextrin-based host-guest chemistry, leading to strong, reproducible, and highly multiplexable surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) signals. The average SERS enhancement factor (EF) for CIPs was 3.0 × 10⁹ with a very narrow distribution of the EFs that range from 9.5 × 10⁸ to 9.5 × 10⁹ for ∼95% of the measured particles. Remarkably, 10 different Raman dyes can be loaded within the nanogap of CIPs, and 6 different Raman dye-loaded CIPs with little spectral overlaps were distinctly detected for cancer cell imaging applications with a single excitation source. Our synthetic strategy provides new platforms in precisely forming plasmonic nanogap structures with all key features for widespread use of SERS including strong signal intensity, reliability in quantification of signal and multiplexing capability.

A comparative study of the photophysics of phenyl, thienyl, and chalcogen substituted rhodamine dyes

We characterize the ultrafast photophysics and electrochemistry of a collection of rhodamine-style dyes and show that different dyes exhibit various directions of charge-transfer in the excited state.

The effect of poly(vinyl alcohol) on the photophysical properties of pyronin dyes in aqueous solution: a spectroscopic study

The photophysical properties of pyronin B (PyB) and pyronin Y (PyY) in water and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) aqueous solutions were studied by using absorption, steady-state fluorescence and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy techniques at room temperature. The spectroscopic and photophysical properties of pyronin dyes in the concentrated PVA aqueous solution were different than those found in water. The aggregation of the pyronin dyes in the concentrated PVA aqueous solution was prevented with ease while the dye aggregation was generally formed in water with high dye concentration. The decrease in the aggregation tendency of pyronin dyes in the concentrated PVA aqueous solution caused an increase in radiative transitions. The addition of PVA into the aqueous solution induced the enhancement in the fluorescence intensity of the dyes compared to those in water. As a result, the quantum yields of the dyes were improved by the addition of PVA at high loading. The time-resolved fluorescence study revealed that the fluorescence decay of dyes in all solutions were found to be single-exponential and the fluorescence lifetime of pyronin dyes in the concentrated PVA aqueous solution were also higher than those found in water.

Host-guest complexation studied by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy: adamantane-cyclodextrin inclusion

The host-guest complexation between an Alexa 488 labelled adamantane derivative and beta-cyclodextrin is studied by Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS). A 1:1 complex stoichiometry and a high association equilibrium constant of K = 5.2 x 10(4) M(-1) are obtained in aqueous solution at 25 degrees C and pH = 6. The necessary experimental conditions are discussed. FCS proves to be an excellent method for the determination of stoichiometry and association equilibrium constant of this type of complexes, where both host and guest are nonfluorescent and which are therefore not easily amenable to standard fluorescence spectroscopic methods.

Supramolecular Chemistry of Pyronines B and Y, β-Cyclodextrin and Linked β-Cyclodextrin Dimers

The complexation of cationic pyronine B (PB+) and pyronine Y (PY+) by β-cyclodextrin (βCD) and two linked βCD dimers, N,N′-bis((2AS,3AS)-3A-deoxy-β-cyclodextrin-3A-yl)succinamide, 33βCD2suc, and N,N′-bis(6A-deoxy-β-cyclodextrin-6A-yl)succinamide, 66βCD2suc, in aqueous solution has been studied by UV-vis, fluorescence, and 1H NMR spectroscopy. The complexation constants for the 1:1 complexes: βCD.PB+, 33βCD2suc.PB+, 66βCD2suc.PB+, and the analogous PY+ complexes are reported as are the dimerization constants for PB+ and PY+. The modes of complexation, dimerization, and fluorescence quenching are discussed.

Dynamics of supramolecular association monitored by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy

Supramolecular binding is a key process in many biological systems and in newly developed supramolecular assemblies. Most of the scientific work on these systems is focused on their structural properties and on the thermodynamics of the association process. However, the underlying dynamics are usually much less known, in spite of the great importance they have during the binding process in these highly dynamic systems. Understanding supramolecular binding in biological systems and controlling the functionality of new synthetic supramolecular systems can only be achieved through knowledge of the structure-dynamics relationship. There is a strong need for suitable techniques which cover the typically wide time interval of the association dynamics and which do not need a perturbation of the system. We briefly review high-resolution fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) as a technique to monitor supramolecular dynamics and to give information on how structure determines the dynamics of host-guest association. The comparison of hosts and guests with different structures shows that geometrical and orientational requirements determine the association rate constant, whereas the dissociation is defined by the strength of specific interactions. As model hosts cyclodextrins and micelles are studied.

Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, a tool to investigate supramolecular dynamics: inclusion complexes of pyronines with cyclodextrin

The control of supramolecular systems requires a thorough understanding of their dynamics on a molecular level. We present fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) as a powerful spectroscopic tool to study supramolecular dynamics with single molecule sensitivity. The formation of a supramolecular complex between beta-cyclodextrin (beta-CD) as host and pyronines Y (PY) and B (PB) as guests is studied by FCS. Global target analysis of full correlation curves with a newly derived theoretical model yields in a single experiment the fluorescence lifetimes and the diffusion coefficients of free and complexed guests and the rate constants describing the complexation dynamics. These data give insight into the recently published surprising fact that the association equilibrium constant of beta-CD with PY is much lower than that with the much bulkier guest PB. FCS shows that the stability of the complexes is dictated by the dissociation and not by the association process. The association rate constants are very similar for both guests and among the highest reported for this type of systems, although much lower than the diffusion-controlled collision rate constant. A two-step model including the formation of an encounter complex allows one to identify the unimolecular inclusion reaction as the rate-limiting step. Simulations indicate that this step may be controlled by geometrical and orientational requirements. These depend on critical molecular dimensions which are only weakly affected by the different alkyl substituents of PY and PB. Diffusion coefficients of PY and PB, of their complexes, and of rhodamine 110 are given and compared to those of similar molecules.