PChem Seminar – Faraz Abounorinejad

About the event

Speaker: Faraz Abounorinejad

Title: Solvatochromism and Rigidochromism of Red-Emitting Silicon and Germanium Rhodamine Dyes.

Group: Brozik

Abstract: Red-emitting group XIV rhodamines have emerged as promising fluorescent probes for biophysical experiments, especially on the single-molecule level. This is due to their high fluorescence quantum yields, resistance to photobleaching, and high solubility in water. Another feature that makes these fluorescent probes ideal for biological experiments is their excitation range, which is in the near-infrared region. Biological samples are mostly transparent in this region and will not emit a significant background signal. While studying the photophysical parameters of two of these probes, a silicon and a germanium rhodamine zwitterion, our group noticed a rigidochromic shift when using a 4:1 ethanol:methanol solvent at 77K that was not observed in water. This prompted us to further experiment to determine the effect of solvent on the photophysical characteristics of these molecules, and I will present our results in this talk.