Spectral studies of N-nonyl acridine orange in anionic, cationic and neutral surfactants

Abstract

The spectroscopic and photophysical properties of N-nonyl acridine orange – a metachromatic dye useful as a mitochondrial probe in living cells – are reported in water and microheterogeneous media: anionic sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS), cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and neutral octylophenylpolyoxyethylene ether (TX-100). The spectral changes of N-nonyl acridine orange were observed in the presence of varying amount of SDS, CTAB and TX-100 and indicated formation of a dye–surfactant complex. The spectral changes were also regarded to be caused by the incorporation of dye molecules to micelles. It was proved by calculated values K b and f in the following order: K b TX-100 > K b CTAB > K b SDS and f TX-100 > f CTAB > f SDS. NAO binds to the micelle regardless the micellar charge. There are two types of interactions between NAO and micelles: hydrophobic and electrostatic. The hydrophobic interactions play a dominant role in binding of the dye to neutral TX-100. The unexpected fact of the binding NAO to cationic CTAB can be explained by a dominant role of hydrophobic interactions over electrostatic repulsion. Therefore, the affinity of NAO to CTAB is smaller than TX-100. Electrostatic interactions play an important role in binding of NAO to anionic micelles SDS. We observed a prolonged fluorescence lifetime after formation of the dye–surfactant complex τ SDS > τ TX-100 > τ CTAB > τ water, the dye being protected against water in this environment. TX-100 is found to stabilize the excited state of NAO which is more polar than the ground state. Spectroscopic and photophysical properties of NAO will be helpful for a better understanding of the nature of binding and distribution inside mammalian cells.