Phosphorescence quenching as an approach for estimating the localization of triplet label in cotton fibers

Abstract

The method based on the qualitative investigation of chromophore fluorescence (phosphorescence) quenching for instance, by stable nitroxide radical was first used to measure the depth of immersion of triplet label in cotton fiber as a molecular object. The concept of dynamic quenching of fluorescence in solutions and the empirical dependence of the parameters of static quenching between centers with fixed distances were used. The erythrosine triplet labels were incorporated in cotton fibers with subsequent measurement of the efficiency of label phosphorescence quenching and determination of temperature dependence of phosphorescence duration. Using above mentioned approach it became possible for the first time to estimate the depth of immersion of chromophore fragment of the labels (7.4-7.8 A) and study their molecular dynamics in the millisecond range of correlation times. Subtle differences in microstructure and molecular dynamics of the investigated samples were revealed. The proposed approach can be used for investigation of widespread biological and nonbiological objects.