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Spectroscopic and nonlinear optical properties of new chalcone fluorescent probes for bioimaging applications: a theoretical and experimental study

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Abstract

In this study, the newly synthesized non-centrosymmetric, 4-dimethylamino-3′-isothiocyanatochalcone (PKA) compound was presented. This compound belongs to the chalcone group, and its main purpose is to be used in biomedical imaging as a fluorescence dye. For this reason, the linear and nonlinear properties in solvents of different polarity were thoroughly studied. In accordance with the requirements for a fluorochrome, the PKA compound is characterized by strong absorption, large Stokes’ shifts, relatively high fluorescence quantum yields and high nonlinear optical response. Moreover, the isothiocyanate reactive probe was conjugated with Concanavalin A. Conventional fluorescence microscopy imaging of Candida albicans cells incubated with the PKA-Concanavalin A, is presented. The results of this study show that the novel conjugate PKA-Concanavalin A could be a promising new probe for cellular labelling in biological and biomedical research.

Spectroscopic behavior of the PKA dye

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Computational Grant No. 249, PCSS (Poznan , Poland); in part by PL-Grid Infrastructure; the National Science Center of Poland (Decision No. DEC-2012/07/B/ST4/01417).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Collegium Medicum, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Physical Chemistry, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Kurpińskiego 5, 85-950, Bydgoszcz, Poland

    Przemysław Krawczyk & Piotr Cysewski

  2. Faculty of Chemical Technology and Engineering, UTP University of Science and Technology, Seminaryjna 3, 85-326, Bydgoszcz, Poland

    Marek Pietrzak & Beata Jędrzejewska

  3. Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Wroclaw Medical University, Borowska 211a, 50-556, Wroclaw, Poland

    Tomasz Janek

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  1. Przemysław Krawczyk
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Krawczyk, P., Pietrzak, M., Janek, T. et al. Spectroscopic and nonlinear optical properties of new chalcone fluorescent probes for bioimaging applications: a theoretical and experimental study. J Mol Model 22, 125 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00894-016-2990-4

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