Dye based structures
Signal from a single dye molecule is limited, due to intrinsic limitations of quantum yield, extinction coefficient, and self-quenching between neighboring dyes. Nature, in proteins such as the phycobiliproteins, has overcome these limitations by placing an array of dyes with the appropriate spacing and geometry to avoid the intrinsic self-quenching problems. These dyes then act in an additive manner, yielding a brightness many times higher than the intrinsic single dye fluorescence. Using supramolecular assembly and nanofabrication methods with dyes and systematically varying the molecular geometry, we expect to be able to mimic nature’s success and organize collections of dyes into small aggregates with high fluorescence efficiency. These can be used as bright biological probes for detection down to single molecule levels.
