The synthesis of fluorescent and phosphorescent dyes for biochemical application

Abstract

Current dyes for proteomics that are applicable to multiplexing experiments suffer from lack of sensitivity and poor water solubility. A series of tetramethyl rhodamine derivatives were developed to study the effects of substitution patterns on the photophysical properties of the fluorophores. After identifying the superior fluorophore a zwitterionic side chain with properties beneficial for two dimensional applications was coupled to the fluorophore and the photophysical properties were studied. Iridium(III) cationic fluorophores are interesting synthetic targets due to their ultraviolet absorption wavelengths and visible emission properties. A series of Iridium(III) fluorophores, some of which contain a handle for further synthetic extension, has been made to study the ligand effects on the emission properties of the dyes. Finally, some of these dyes have been synthetically modified for proteomic labeling applications.