skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Exciton Delocalization in Indolenine Squaraine Aggregates Templated by DNA Holliday Junction Scaffolds

Journal Article · · Journal of Physical Chemistry. B, Condensed Matter, Materials, Surfaces, Interfaces and Biophysical Chemistry
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Boise State Univ., ID (United States)
  2. SETA BioMedicals, LLC, Urbana, IL (United States)

Exciton delocalization plays a prominent role in the photophysics of molecular aggregates, ultimately governing their particular function or application. DNA is a compelling scaffold in which to template molecular aggregates and promote exciton delocalization. As individual dye molecules are the basis of exciton delocalization in molecular aggregates, their judicious selection is important. Motivated by their excellent photostability and spectral properties, here we examine the ability of squaraine dyes to undergo exciton delocalization when aggregated via a DNA Holliday junction (HJ) template. A commercially available indolenine squaraine dye was chosen for the study given its strong structural resemblance to Cy5, a commercially available cyanine dye previously shown to undergo exciton delocalization in DNA HJs. Three types of DNA-dye aggregate configurations—transverse dimer, adjacent dimer, and tetramer—were investigated. Signatures of exciton delocalization were observed in all squaraine-DNA aggregates. Specifically, strong blue shift and Davydov splitting were observed in steady-state absorption spectroscopy and exciton-induced features were evident in circular dichroism spectroscopy. Strongly suppressed fluorescence emission provided additional, indirect evidence for exciton delocalization in the DNA-templated squaraine dye aggregates. To quantitatively evaluate and directly compare the excitonic Coulombic coupling responsible for exciton delocalization, the strength of excitonic hopping interactions between the dyes were obtained by simultaneous fitting the experimental steady-state absorption and CD spectra via a Holstein-like Hamiltonian in which, following the theoretical approach of Kühn, Renger, and May, the dominant vibrational mode is explicitly considered. The excitonic hopping strength within indolenine squaraines was found to be comparable to that of the analogous Cy5 DNA-templated aggregate. The squaraine aggregates adopted primarily an H-type (dyes oriented parallel to each other) spatial arrangement. Extracted geometric details of dye mutual orientation in the aggregates enabled close comparison of aggregate configurations and the elucidation of the influence of dye angular relationship on excitonic hopping interactions in squaraine aggregates. Furthermore, these results encourage the application of squaraine-based aggregates in next generation systems driven by molecular excitons.

Research Organization:
Boise State Univ., ID (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; National Science Foundation (NSF); National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS); National Institutes of Health (NIH); MJ Murdock Charitable Trust; Idaho State Board of Education
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0020089; 1648655; P20GM103408; P20GM109095; 0619793; 0923535
OSTI ID:
1670511
Journal Information:
Journal of Physical Chemistry. B, Condensed Matter, Materials, Surfaces, Interfaces and Biophysical Chemistry, Vol. 124, Issue 43; Related Information: SUPPORTING INFORMATION Exciton Delocalization in Indolenine Squaraine Aggregates Templated byDNA Holliday Junction Scaffolds1Olga A. Mass; 1Christopher K. Wilson; 1Simon K. Roy; Matthew S. Barclay; 1Lance K. Patten;2Ewald A. Terpetschnig; *1,3Jeunghoon Lee; *1Ryan D. Pensack; *1,4Bernard Yurke;*1,4William B. Knowlton.1Micron School of Materials Science & Engineering, 3Department of Chemistry andBiochemistry, 4Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Boise State University, Boise,Idaho 83725, United States2SETA BioMedicals, LLC, 2014 Silver Court East, Urbana, IL 61801, United States; ISSN 1520-6106
Publisher:
American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (112)

Squaraine dyes: a mine of molecular materials journal January 2008
Spontaneous Assembly of Helical Cyanine Dye Aggregates on DNA Nanotemplates journal April 1999
Theory of exciton-vibrational dynamics in molecular dimers journal March 1996
Quantum coherence in biological systems journal July 2011
Cooperative self-assembly of squaraine dyes journal January 2012
Exciton dynamics in chromophore aggregates with correlated environment fluctuations journal May 2011
The coming of age of de novo protein design journal September 2016
Helical Aggregation of Cyanine Dyes on DNA Templates:  Effect of Dye Structure on Formation of Homo- and Heteroaggregates journal August 2002
Quantum entanglement in photosynthetic light-harvesting complexes journal April 2010
Functionalized DNA nanostructures for light harvesting and charge separation journal November 2012
Physics of life: The dawn of quantum biology journal June 2011
Formation of Stable BOBO-3 H-Aggregate Complexes Hinders DNA Hybridization journal June 2010
Spectral Absorption and Fluorescence of Dyes in the Molecular State journal December 1936
An immobile nucleic acid junction constructed from oligonucleotides journal October 1983
Coherent interactions of dyes assembled on DNA journal June 2012
Folding DNA to create nanoscale shapes and patterns journal March 2006
DNA-Templated Aggregates of Strongly Coupled Cyanine Dyes: Nonradiative Decay Governs Exciton Lifetimes journal April 2019
Excitons in Photosynthetic Purple Bacteria:  Wavelike Motion or Incoherent Hopping? journal September 1997
Optical properties of disordered molecular aggregates: A numerical study journal December 1991
Explicit Correlated Exciton-Vibrational Dynamics of the FMO Complex journal May 2015
Organic Optoelectronic Materials: Mechanisms and Applications journal October 2016
Evidence for wavelike energy transfer through quantum coherence in photosynthetic systems journal April 2007
Light Absorption and Energy Transfer in the Antenna Complexes of Photosynthetic Organisms journal March 2016
Exciton Interactions in Nonconjugated Squaraine Dimers. Mechanisms for Coupling and Consequences for Photophysics and Photochemistry journal January 1997
Coherently and fluorescence-detected two-dimensional electronic spectroscopy: direct comparison on squaraine dimers journal January 2020
Energy Transfer Mechanisms and the Molecular Exciton Model for Molecular Aggregates journal September 1963
Molecular Recognition of PNA-Containing Hybrids:  Spontaneous Assembly of Helical Cyanine Dye Aggregates on PNA Templates journal March 1999
Temperature-dependent conformations of exciton-coupled Cy3 dimers in double-stranded DNA journal February 2018
Proximity-Induced H-Aggregation of Cyanine Dyes on DNA-Duplexes journal December 2016
UCSF Chimera?A visualization system for exploratory research and analysis journal January 2004
Programmed coherent coupling in a synthetic DNA-based excitonic circuit journal November 2017
Three-Dimensional Structures Self-Assembled from DNA Bricks journal November 2012
Architecture and mechanism of the light-harvesting apparatus of purple bacteria journal May 1998
J- vs. H-type assembly: pentamethine cyanine (Cy5) as a near-IR chiroptical reporter journal January 2013
Ultrafast Excitation Transfer in Cy5 DNA Photonic Wires Displays Dye Conjugation and Excitation Energy Dependency journal May 2020
Spectroscopic Studies of Cryptophyte Light Harvesting Proteins: Vibrations and Coherent Oscillations journal July 2015
Synthesis and properties of squaraine-modified DNA journal January 2012
Squaraine Dyes: Molecular Design for Different Applications and Remaining Challenges journal July 2019
Covalent Incorporation of Methyl Red Dyes into Double-Stranded DNA for Their Ordered Clustering journal January 2006
Exchange narrowing of the J band of molecular dye aggregates journal January 2008
Anomalous strong exchange narrowing in excitonic systems journal January 2011
Analysis of Coherent Heteroclustering of Different Dyes by Use of Threoninol Nucleotides for Comparison with the Molecular Exciton Theory journal October 2009
A DNA-Based Light-Harvesting Antenna journal December 2011
Preparation of supramolecular chromophoric assemblies using a DNA duplex journal January 2012
Coherent Multidimensional Optical Spectroscopy of Excitons in Molecular Aggregates; Quasiparticle versus Supermolecule Perspectives journal June 2009
Hybridization-Sensitive On–Off DNA Probe: Application of the Exciton Coupling Effect to Effective Fluorescence Quenching journal June 2008
A modular LHC built on the DNA three-way junction journal January 2014
Synthesis and characterization of unsymmetrical squaraines: a new class of cyanine dyes journal January 1993
Über die Veränderlichkeit der Absorptionsspektren in Lösungen und die Nebenvalenzen als ihre Ursache journal March 1937
Ultrafast excitation energy transfer dynamics in photosynthetic pigment–protein complexes journal March 2001
Pump−Probe Polarization Anisotropy Study of Femtosecond Energy Transfer within the Photosynthetic Reaction Center of Rhodobacter sphaeroides R26 journal January 1996
Nucleic acid junctions and lattices journal November 1982
J-Aggregates: From Serendipitous Discovery to Supramolecular Engineering of Functional Dye Materials journal March 2011
Expanded Theory of H- and J-Molecular Aggregates: The Effects of Vibronic Coupling and Intermolecular Charge Transfer journal April 2018
Coherent Quenching of a Fluorophore for the Design of a Highly Sensitive In-Stem Molecular Beacon journal July 2010
The Structure and Dynamics of Molecular Excitons journal April 2014
Photon harvesting by excimer-forming multichromophores journal January 2012
Synthesis, spectral properties and photostabilities of symmetrical and unsymmetrical squarines; a new class of flourophores with long-wavelength exiciation and emmision journal October 1993
Squaraine dyes: The hierarchical synthesis and its application in optical detection journal June 2017
Synthesis, photophysical properties and applications of NIR absorbing unsymmetrical squaraines: A review journal November 2019
Complex shapes self-assembled from single-stranded DNA tiles journal May 2012
Studies of polaron motion journal November 1959
Aggregation of Dyes in Aqueous Solution journal March 1946
Accurate design of megadalton-scale two-component icosahedral protein complexes journal July 2016
Cyclotrimethine Dyes Derived from Squaric Acid journal August 1965
The aggregation of cyanine dyes in aqueous solution journal January 1947
Alternating Hetero H Aggregation of Different Dyes by Interstrand Stacking from Two DNA-Dye Conjugates journal December 2004
The Spectral Signatures of Frenkel Polarons in H- and J-Aggregates journal March 2010
Excitonic AND Logic Gates on DNA Brick Nanobreadboards journal February 2015
Theory of excitation transfer in coupled nanostructures – from quantum dots to light harvesting complexes journal August 2006
Entanglement dynamics of J-aggregate systems journal March 2011
Red Chlorophylls in the Exciton Model of Photosystem I journal November 2005
Coherence Dynamics in Photosynthesis: Protein Protection of Excitonic Coherence journal June 2007
Density Matrix Analysis and Simulation of Electronic Excitations in Conjugated and Aggregated Molecules journal September 2002
Extracting single and two-exciton couplings in photosynthetic complexes by coherent two-dimensional electronic spectra journal February 2009
Photosynthetic light harvesting: excitons and coherence journal March 2014
DNA in a material world journal January 2003
The J-band of organic dyes: lineshape and coherence length journal July 2002
DNA-Templated Formation of a Helical Cyanine Dye J-Aggregate journal October 2000
Coherence in photosynthesis journal June 2011
Large Davydov Splitting and Strong Fluorescence Suppression: An Investigation of Exciton Delocalization in DNA-Templated Holliday Junction Dye Aggregates journal February 2018
Comparison of a series of hydrophilic squaraine and cyanine dyes for use as biological labels journal December 2013
Molecular Aggregate Photophysics beyond the Kasha Model: Novel Design Principles for Organic Materials journal January 2017
A unified theory of radiative and radiationless molecular energy transfer journal August 1989
Excitonics: A Set of Gates for Molecular Exciton Processing and Signaling journal June 2018
The Protein-Folding Problem, 50 Years On journal November 2012
A structural model for cyanine dyes templated into the minor groove of DNA journal June 2006
Photophysics of J-Aggregate-Mediated Energy Transfer on DNA journal November 2017
Exciton Dynamics from Strong to Weak Coupling Limit Illustrated on a Series of Squaraine Dimers journal March 2018
DNA-Assisted Self-Assembly of Pyrene Foldamers journal June 2009
Extended dipole model for aggregates of dye molecules journal August 1970
Squaraines as light-capturing materials in photovoltaic cells journal January 2014
Substituent Effects on the Assembly of Helical Cyanine Dye Aggregates in the Minor Groove of a DNA Template journal February 2011
DNA-mediated excitonic upconversion FRET switching journal November 2015
Photophysical processes in single molecule organic fluorescent probes journal January 2014
Geometric Principles for Designing Highly Symmetric Self-Assembling Protein Nanomaterials journal May 2017
DNA-Templated Assembly of Helical Cyanine Dye Aggregates:  A Supramolecular Chain Polymerization journal November 2004
DNA-Controlled Excitonic Switches journal January 2012
Optical Properties of Vibronically Coupled Cy3 Dimers on DNA Scaffolds journal April 2018
Exciton Delocalization and Transport in Photosystem I of Cyanobacteria Synechococcus elongates : Simulation Study of Coherent Two-Dimensional Optical Signals journal April 2009
DNA−Dye Conjugates for Controllable H* Aggregation 1 journal February 2003
Control of aggregation-induced emission by DNA hybridization journal January 2013
Interaction of YOYO-3 with Different DNA Templates to Form H-Aggregates journal May 2014
Coherent Exciton Delocalization in a Two-State DNA-Templated Dye Aggregate System journal September 2017
Davydov Splitting in Squaraine Dimers journal July 2019
Lessons from nature about solar light harvesting journal September 2011
Characterization of Chiral H and J Aggregates of Cyanine Dyes Formed by DNA Templating Using Stark and Fluorescence Spectroscopies journal December 2001
Exciton Transport in Molecular Aggregates - From Natural Antennas to Synthetic Chromophore Systems journal July 2017
Stark Spectroscopy of Size-Selected Helical H-Aggregates of a Cyanine Dye Templated by Duplex DNA. Effect of Exciton Coupling on Electronic Polarizabilities journal May 2003
Analysis of the UV/Vis and CD Spectral Line Shapes of Carotenoid Assemblies: Spectral Signatures of Chiral H -Aggregates journal April 2009
Determining the spatial coherence of excitons from the photoluminescence spectrum in charge-transfer J-aggregates journal December 2016
Molecular, Nematic and Crystal States of I: I-Diethyl--Cyanine Chloride journal April 1937