TY - GEN A1 - Meiling, Till Thomas A1 - Cywiński, Piotr J. A1 - Bald, Ilko T1 - White carbon: Fluorescent carbon nanoparticles with tunable quantum yield in a reproducible green synthesis N2 - In this study, a new reliable, economic, and environmentally-friendly one-step synthesis is established to obtain carbon nanodots (CNDs) with well-defined and reproducible photoluminescence (PL) properties via the microwave-assisted hydrothermal treatment of starch and Tris-acetate-EDTA (TAE) buffer as carbon sources. Three kinds of CNDs are prepared using different sets of above mentioned starting materials. The as-synthesized CNDs: C-CND (starch only), N-CND 1 (starch in TAE) and N-CND 2 (TAE only) exhibit highly homogenous PL and are ready to use without need for further purification. The CNDs are stable over a long period of time (>1 year) either in solution or as freeze-dried powder. Depending on starting material, CNDs with PL quantum yield (PLQY) ranging from less than 1% up to 28% are obtained. The influence of the precursor concentration, reaction time and type of additives on the optical properties (UV-Vis absorption, PL emission spectrum and PLQY) is carefully investigated, providing insight into the chemical processes that occur during CND formation. Remarkably, upon freeze-drying the initially brown CND-solution turns into a non-fluorescent white/slightly brown powder which recovers PL in aqueous solution and can potentially be applied as fluorescent marker in bio-imaging, as a reduction agent or as a photocatalyst. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 264 KW - Fluorescence spectroscopy KW - Nanoparticles KW - Synthesis and processing Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-97087 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Tasior, Mariusz A1 - Bald, Ilko A1 - Deperasińska, Irena A1 - Cywiński, Piotr J. A1 - Gryko, Daniel T. T1 - An internal charge transfer-dependent solvent effect in V-shaped azacyanines N2 - New V-shaped non-centrosymmetric dyes, possessing a strongly electron-deficient azacyanine core, have been synthesized based on a straightforward two-step approach. The key step in this synthesis involves palladium-catalysed cross-coupling of dibromo-N,N′-methylene-2,2′-azapyridinocyanines with arylacetylenes. The resulting strongly polarized π-expanded heterocycles exhibit green to orange fluorescence and they strongly respond to changes in solvent polarity. We demonstrate that differently electron-donating peripheral groups have a significant influence on the internal charge transfer, hence on the solvent effect and fluorescence quantum yield. TD-DFT calculations confirm that, in contrast to the previously studied bis(styryl)azacyanines, the proximity of S1 and T2 states calculated for compounds bearing two 4-N,N-dimethylaminophenylethynyl moieties establishes good conditions for efficient intersystem crossing and is responsible for its low fluorescence quantum yield. Non-linear properties have also been determined for new azacyanines and the results show that depending on peripheral groups, the synthesized dyes exhibit small to large two-photon absorption cross sections reaching 4000 GM. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 306 Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-102704 SP - 11714 EP - 11720 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Olejko, Lydia A1 - Cywinski, Piotr J. A1 - Bald, Ilko T1 - Ion-Selective formation of a guanine quadruplex on DNA origami structures JF - Angewandte Chemie : a journal of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker ; International edition N2 - DNA origami nanostructures are a versatile tool that can be used to arrange functionalities with high local control to study molecular processes at a single-molecule level. Here, we demonstrate that DNA origami substrates can be used to suppress the formation of specific guanine (G) quadruplex structures from telomeric DNA. The folding of telomeres into G-quadruplex structures in the presence of monovalent cations (e.g. Na+ and K+) is currently used for the detection of K+ ions, however, with insufficient selectivity towards Na+. By means of FRET between two suitable dyes attached to the 3- and 5-ends of telomeric DNA we demonstrate that the formation of G-quadruplexes on DNA origami templates in the presence of sodium ions is suppressed due to steric hindrance. Hence, telomeric DNA attached to DNA origami structures represents a highly sensitive and selective detection tool for potassium ions even in the presence of high concentrations of sodium ions. KW - DNA nanotechnology KW - FRET KW - G-quadruplexes KW - nanostructures KW - self-assembly Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201409278 SN - 1433-7851 SN - 1521-3773 VL - 54 IS - 2 SP - 673 EP - 677 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tasior, Mariusz A1 - Bald, Ilko A1 - Deperasinska, Irena A1 - Cywinski, Piotr J. A1 - Gryko, Daniel T. T1 - An internal charge transfer-dependent solvent effect in V-shaped azacyanines JF - Organic & biomolecular chemistry : an international journal of synthetic, physical and biomolecular organic chemistry Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c5ob01633a SN - 1477-0520 SN - 1477-0539 VL - 13 IS - 48 SP - 11714 EP - 11720 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Meiling, Till T. A1 - Cywinski, Piotr J. A1 - Bald, Ilko T1 - White carbon: Fluorescent carbon nanoparticles with tunable quantum yield in a reproducible green synthesis JF - Scientific reports N2 - In this study, a new reliable, economic, and environmentally-friendly one-step synthesis is established to obtain carbon nanodots (CNDs) with well-defined and reproducible photoluminescence (PL) properties via the microwave-assisted hydrothermal treatment of starch and Tris-acetate-EDTA (TAE) buffer as carbon sources. Three kinds of CNDs are prepared using different sets of above mentioned starting materials. The as-synthesized CNDs: C-CND (starch only), N-CND 1 (starch in TAE) and N-CND 2 (TAE only) exhibit highly homogenous PL and are ready to use without need for further purification. The CNDs are stable over a long period of time (> 1 year) either in solution or as freeze-dried powder. Depending on starting material, CNDs with PL quantum yield (PLQY) ranging from less than 1% up to 28% are obtained. The influence of the precursor concentration, reaction time and type of additives on the optical properties (UV-Vis absorption, PL emission spectrum and PLQY) is carefully investigated, providing insight into the chemical processes that occur during CND formation. Remarkably, upon freeze-drying the initially brown CND-solution turns into a non-fluorescent white/slightly brown powder which recovers PL in aqueous solution and can potentially be applied as fluorescent marker in bio-imaging, as a reduction agent or as a photocatalyst. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/srep28557 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 6 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Meiling, Till Thomas A1 - Cywiński, Piotr J. A1 - Bald, Ilko T1 - White carbon: Fluorescent carbon nanoparticles with tunable quantum yield in a reproducible green synthesis JF - Scientific reports N2 - In this study, a new reliable, economic, and environmentally-friendly one-step synthesis is established to obtain carbon nanodots (CNDs) with well-defined and reproducible photoluminescence (PL) properties via the microwave-assisted hydrothermal treatment of starch and Tris-acetate-EDTA (TAE) buffer as carbon sources. Three kinds of CNDs are prepared using different sets of above mentioned starting materials. The as-synthesized CNDs: C-CND (starch only), N-CND 1 (starch in TAE) and N-CND 2 (TAE only) exhibit highly homogenous PL and are ready to use without need for further purification. The CNDs are stable over a long period of time (>1 year) either in solution or as freeze-dried powder. Depending on starting material, CNDs with PL quantum yield (PLQY) ranging from less than 1% up to 28% are obtained. The influence of the precursor concentration, reaction time and type of additives on the optical properties (UV-Vis absorption, PL emission spectrum and PLQY) is carefully investigated, providing insight into the chemical processes that occur during CND formation. Remarkably, upon freeze-drying the initially brown CND-solution turns into a non-fluorescent white/slightly brown powder which recovers PL in aqueous solution and can potentially be applied as fluorescent marker in bio-imaging, as a reduction agent or as a photocatalyst. KW - Fluorescence spectroscopy KW - Nanoparticles KW - Synthesis and processing Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/srep28557 VL - 6 PB - Nature Publishing Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Olejko, Lydia A1 - Cywiński, Piotr J. A1 - Bald, Ilko T1 - An ion-controlled four-color fluorescent telomeric switch on DNA origami structures JF - Nanoscale N2 - The folding of single-stranded telomeric DNA into guanine (G) quadruplexes is a conformational change that plays a major role in sensing and drug targeting. The telomeric DNA can be placed on DNA origami nanostructures to make the folding process extremely selective for K+ ions even in the presence of high Na+ concentrations. Here, we demonstrate that the K+-selective G-quadruplex formation is reversible when using a cryptand to remove K+ from the G-quadruplex. We present a full characterization of the reversible switching between single-stranded telomeric DNA and G-quadruplex structures using Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) between the dyes fluorescein (FAM) and cyanine3 (Cy3). When attached to the DNA origami platform, the G-quadruplex switch can be incorporated into more complex photonic networks, which is demonstrated for a three-color and a four-color FRET cascade from FAM over Cy3 and Cy5 to IRDye700 with G-quadruplex-Cy3 acting as a switchable transmitter. KW - resonance energy-transfer KW - g-quadruplex KW - quantum dots KW - strand breakage KW - photonic wires KW - 3-color fret KW - nanostructures KW - recognition KW - sensitivity KW - assemblies Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/C6NR00119J SN - 2040-3372 SN - 2040-3364 VL - 8 SP - 10339 EP - 10347 PB - RSC Publ. CY - Cambridge ER -