Computational and Experimental Characterization of a Fluorescent Dye for Detection of Potassium Ion Concentration

The fluorescence of the SKC-513 ((E)-N-(9-(4-(1,4,7,10,13-pentaoxa-16-azacyclooctadecan-16-yl)phenyl)-6-(butyl(3-sulfopropyl)amino)-3H-xanthen-3-ylidene)-N-(3-sulfopropyl)butan-1-aminium) dye is shown experimentally to have high sensitivity to binding of the K+ ion. Computations are used to explore the potential origins of this sensitivity and to make some suggestions regarding structural improvements. In the absence of K+, excitation is to two nearly degenerate states, a neutral (N) excited state with a high oscillator strength, and a charge-transfer (CT) state with a lower oscillator strength. Binding of K+ destabilizes the CT state, raising its energy far above the N state. The increase in fluorescence quantum yield upon binding of K+ is attributed to the increased energy of the CT state suppressing a nonradiative pathway mediated by the CT state. The near degeneracy of the N and CT excited states can be understood by considering SKC-513 as a reduced symmetry version of a parent molecule with 3-fold symmetry. Computations show that acceptor-donor substituents can be used to alter the relative energies of the N and CT state, whereas a methylene spacer between the heterocycle and phenylene groups can be used to increase the coupling between these states. These modifications provide synthetic handles with which to optimize the dye for K+ detection.