title: QM/MM studies of contemporary and novel membrane raft fluorescent probes.
abstract: We have studied a number of contemporary and novel membrane probes, selected for their structural similarity to membrane raft components, in order to properly anchor themselves within a sphingolipid/cholesterol rich region. A QM/MM approach was adopted in order to understand the structural and electrostatic influences of fluorescence emission shifts of the probes in different lipid and solvation environments. The proposed modifications to the membrane probes have shown encouraging data relating not only to emission shifts within the membrane, but also their ability to anchor within a membrane raft domain and the stability to internalization within a membrane system.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK. david.robinson@nottingham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Hannah L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Blake
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK. david.robinson@nottingham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Robinson
mesh_terms: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry; D021962:Membrane Microdomains / Q000737:chemistry*; D015394:Molecular Structure; D011789:Quantum Theory
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes