Iodide as a Triplet State Promoter and Quencher –Mechanisms and Possible Implications

QC20100617 In this work, Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy(FCS) was used to investigate the effects of potassium iodide(KI) on the electronic state population kinetics of arange of organic dyes in the visible wavelength range. Apartfrom a heavy atom effect promoting intersystem crossing tothe triplet states in all dyes, KI was also found to enhancethe triplet state decay by a charge-coupled deactivation.This deactivation was only found for dyes with excitationmaximum in the blue range, not for those with excitationmaxima at wavelengths in the green range or longer. Consequently,under excitation conditions sufficient for tripletstate formation, KI can promote the triplet state build-up ofone dye and reduce it for another, red-shifted dye. The anticorrelated,spectrally separable responses of two dyes to thepresence of one and the same agent are likely to provide auseful readout for biomolecular interaction and micro-environmentalmonitoring studies. In contrast to the typicalnotion of KI as a fluorescence quencher, the FCS measurementsalso revealed that when added in micromolar concentrationsKI can act as an anti-oxidant, promoting the recoveryof photo-oxidized fluorophores. However, in millimolarconcentrations KI also reduces intact, fluorescently viablefluorophores to a considerable extent. In aqueous solutions,an optimal concentration of KI of approximately 5 mM canbe defined at which the fluorescence signal is maximized.This concentration is not high enough to allow full tripletstate quenching. Therefore, as a fluorescence enhancementagent, it is primarily the anti-oxidative properties of KI thatplay a role. In this work, Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy(FCS) was used to investigate the effects of potassium iodide(KI) on the electronic state population kinetics of arange of organic dyes in the visible wavelength range. Apartfrom a heavy atom effect promoting intersystem crossing tothe triplet states in all dyes, KI was also found to enhancethe triplet state decay by a charge-coupled deactivation.This deactivation was only found for dyes with excitationmaximum in the blue range, not for those with excitationmaxima at wavelengths in the green range or longer. Consequently,under excitation conditions sufficient for tripletstate formation, KI can promote the triplet state build-up ofone dye and reduce it for another, red-shifted dye. The anticorrelated,spectrally separable responses of two dyes to thepresence of one and the same agent are likely to p