Quenching (fluorescence)

Quenching refers to any process which decreases the fluorescence intensity of a given substance. A variety of processes can result in quenching, such as excited state reactions, energy transfer, complex-formation and collisional quenching. As a consequence, quenching is often heavily dependent on pressure and temperature. Molecular oxygen and the iodide ion are common chemical quenchers. Quenching poses a problem for non-instant spectroscopic methods, such as laser-induced fluorescence.

Quenching is made use of in optode sensors; for instance the quenching effect of oxygen on certain rubidium complexes allows the measurement of oxygen saturation in solution. Quenching and dequenching upon interaction with a specific molecular biological target is the basis for activatable optical contrast agents for molecular imaging. [cite journal |author=Weissleder R, Tung CH, Mahmood U, Bogdanov A |title=In vivo imaging of tumors with protease-activated near-infrared fluorescent probes |journal=Nat. Biotechnol. |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=375–8 |year=1999 |pmid=10207887 |doi=10.1038/7933]

ee also

* Quenching in Chemical Industries for extract product from Mother substance.
* Dark quencher, for use in molecular biology.
*Fluorescence resonance energy transfer, a phenomenon on which some quenching techniques rely

References