The pseudopeptide backbone provided by N-(2-aminoethyl)-glycine oligomers with attached nucleobases has been widely utilized in peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) as DNA mimics. Here we demonstrate the suitability of this for formation structurally defined dye stacks. Toward goal a series merocyanine (PMC) connected to were prepared through synthesis. Our concentration-, temperature- and solvent-depe...

The correlation between solvatochromy and the solvent-polarity-dependent rate constant k, of thermal cis-trans isomerization (solvatokinetic behavior) has been investigated for a stilbazolium-type merocyanine and an amphiphilic analogue in a polarity series of eight neat solvents (protic and aprotic). At room temperature k,, varies over 7 orders of magnitude, decreasing with increasing solvent ...

Optical switch probes undergo rapid and reversible transitions between two distinct states, one of which may fluoresce. This class of probe is used in various super-resolution imaging techniques and in the high-contrast imaging technique of optical lock-in detection (OLID) microscopy. Here, we introduce optimized optical switches for studies in living cells under standard conditions of cell cul...

Thermally-induced isomerization of spiropyran derivatives in aqueous media has been studied. The colorless spirocyclic (SP) forms of spiropyran derivatives are isomerized to colored merocyanine (MC) forms even in dark conditions at elevated temperature. Equilibrium, kinetic, and deuterium experiments reveal that the thermal SP → MC isomerization is due to the stabilization of MC form by a hydro...

This work shows that optical switching between the spiro (SP) and merocyanine (MC) states of different photochromes specifically labeled to G-actin can be used to rapidly and reversibly modulate specific dipolar interactions within the conjugate. Members of a common spirobenzopyran photochrome and a related spironaphthoxazine that differ only in the locations of their alkylating groups were sel...