To determine the binding interactions and ability to form the non-covalent systems, the association process between 5,10,15,20-tetrakis[4-(trimethylammonio)phenyl]-21H,23H-porphine tetra-p-tosylate (H2TTMePP) and a series of five structurally diverse thio-caffeine analogues has been studied in ethanol and ethanol-water solutions, analyzing its absorption and steady-state fluorescence spectra. The porphyrin fluorescence lifetimes in the systems studied were established as well. During the titration with thio-caffeine compounds the slight bathochromic effect and considerable hypochromicity of the porphyrin Soret band maximum can be noted. The fluorescence quenching effect observed for interactions in H2TTMePP - thio-caffeine derivative systems, as well as the order of binding and fluorescence quenching constants (of 105-103mol-1) suggest the existence of the mechanism of static quenching due to the formation of non-covalent and non-fluorescent stacking complexes. In all the systems studied the phenomenon of the fractional accessibility of the fluorophore for the quencher was observed as well. Additionally, the specific binding interactions, due to the changes in reaction environment polarity, can be observed. It was found that thio-caffeine compounds can quench the porphyrin fluorescence according to the structure of thio-substituent in caffeine molecule. The obtained results can be potentially useful from scientific, therapeutic or environmental points of view.
Keywords: Fluorescence quenching; Non-covalent interactions; Thio-caffeine derivatives; Water-soluble porphyrin.
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