title: Revealing the photophysics of gold-nanobeacons via time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy.
abstract: We demonstrate that time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy is a powerful tool to investigate the conformation states of hairpin DNA on the surface of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and energy transfer processes in Au-nanobeacons. Long-range fluorescence quenching of Cy5 by AuNPs has been found to be in good agreement with electrodynamics modeling. Moreover, time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) is shown to be promising for real-time monitoring of the hybridization kinetics of Au-nanobeacons, with up to 60% increase in decay time component and 300% increase in component fluorescence fraction observed. Our results also indicate the importance of the stem and spacer designs for the performance of Au-nanobeacons.
authors.forename: Guoke
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Dorin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Simionesie
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sefcik
authors.forename: Jens U
authors.initials: JU
authors.lastname: Sutter
authors.forename: Qingjiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Jinliang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: David J S
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Birch
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004735:Energy Transfer; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D055029:Inverted Repeat Sequences; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D006046:Gold; D004247:DNA