Synopses & Reviews
This interdisciplinary book gives a comprehensive survey of the state-of-the-art: from applications and trends in fluorescence techniques in science to medicine and engineering. Written for practitioners and researchers in industry and academia, it covers fields like environmental and materials science, biology, medicine, physics and chemistry. Moreover, it reports on such new and breathtaking methods as ultra-fast time-resolved or single molecule spectroscopy, gives examples of applications in the fields of electroluminescent polymers, visualization of membrane potentials in neurons and fluorescence imaging of the brain.
Synopsis
The light of the sun - the source of life and a god in ancient times - was always associated with warmth or even burning heat. When man learnt to tame fire, he had another source of light, which was also hot. All the more puzzling for the amazed observer has been the dance of fireflies glimmering in the dark. How can an animal emit light? Or what about the faint glow of walls in some pre historic tombs due to luminescent bacteria? This sort of "cold light" is known today as chemiluminescence. A related phenomenon is the aurora borealis with its swiftly moving curtains oflight. This is a special sort of electroluminescence, of "cold light." another kind The basis of "hot light" is the thermal generation of electronically excited states (normally of atoms or ions). The source of "cold light," on the other hand, is the chemical or electrochemical generation of excited states, possible also for larger molecules. By using light instead of chemical or electrical energy, we can generate yet another type of "cold light," the ordinary luminescence: fluo rescence or phosphorescence. The possibilities here have increased enormously because we can color-tune the exciting light and gain specificity, and we can modulate it in time or even in polarization opening new dimensions of research and applications."
Table of Contents
Applied Fluorescence in Chemistry, Biology and Medicine I. Methods and Trends in Fluorescence Spectroscopy i. Troy, T.L.; E. Sevick-Muraca: Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging and Spectroscopy in Random Media ii. Sauer, M.; Wolfrum, J.: Single Molecule Detection in Biology with Multiplex Dyes and Pulsed Semiconductor Lasers iii. Bässler, H.; Hopmeier, M.; Mahrt, R.F.: Time-resolved Fluorescence Spectroscopy of Conjugated Polymers iv. Raymond, M.K.; Magnera, T.F.; Zharov, I.; West, R.; Drestszewski, B.; Notzig, A.J.; Sprague, R.J.; Ellingston, J.M.; Michl, J.: Low Temperature Photophysics of Permethlyated n-Heptasilanes: the Borderline between excitation localization and delocalization in a conjugated chain. v. Hink, M.; Visser, A.: Characterization of Membrane Mimetic Systems with Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy vi. Vanoppen, P; Hofkens, J.; Latterini, L.; Jeuris, K.; Faes, H.; Kerimo, J.; Barbara, P.F.; Rowan, A.E.; Nolte, R.J.M.; DeSchryver, F.C.: Excited State Probing of Supramolecular Systems on a Submicron Scale vii. Lakowicz, J.R.; Gryczinski, I.: Three Photon Excitation of Fluorescence II. Analytical Fluorescence Probes and Environmental Research i. Gromov, S.P.; Alfimov, M.V.: Flourescence Properties of Crown Containing Molecules ii. Huxley, A.J.M.; De Silva, A.P.: Recent Developments in Luminescent PET (Photoinduced Electron Transfer) Sensors and Switches iii. Eggeling, C.; Widengren, J.; Rigler, R.; Seidel, C.A.M.: Photostabilities of fluorescennt dyes in aqueous solution: Photobleaching mechanisms and consequences for single molecule spectroscopy iv. Volpp, H.R.; Schulz, J.W.; Wolfrum, J.: Analysis of Chemical Dynamics and Technical Combustion by Time Resolved Laser-Induced Fluorescence v. Terpetschnig, E.; Piletsky, S.; Pringsheim, E.; Wolfbeis, O.S.: Fluorescence Techniques for Probing Molecular Interactions in Imprinted Polymers III. Fluorescence Probes in Polymers i. Geerts, Y.; Mullen, K.: Advances Light Emitting Dyes: Monomers, Oligomers and Polymers ii. Ushiki, H.: Fluorescence Probes in Polymers and Liquid Crystals: Complex Macromolecular Chain Dynamics iii. Pekan, O.; Yilmaz, Y.: Fluorescence Method for Monitoring Gelation and Gel Swelling in Real Time iv. Frank, C.W.; Ylitalo, D.: Photophysical Studies Provide Thermodynamic Insights on Block-Copolymer Micelle Formation in a Selective Solvent IV. Applications of Fluorescence Spectroscopy in Biology i. Pilarczyk, G.; Monajembashi, S.; Hoyer, C.; Uhl, V.; Greulich, K.O.: Fluorescence Microscopy and the Reactions of Single Molecules ii. Hof, M.; Solvent Relaxation in Biomembranes iii. Selvin, P.R.: Luminescent Lanthanide Chelates for improved Resonance Energy Transfer and Applications for Biology V. Fluorescence Techniques in Medicine - a Challenge for the future i. Herman, B.; Wang, X.F.; Wodnicki, P.; Periasamy, A.; Mahajan, N.; Berry, G.; Gordon, G.: Fluorescent lifetime imaging spectroscopy ii. Miller, J.N.; Evans, M.; French, M.T.; Palmer, D.A.: Flow Injection Based Heterogeneous Fluorescence Immunoassays iii. Müller, W.; Schuchman, S.; Egorov, A.; Gloveli, T.; Erdmann, S.: Microfluorimetry of Cellular and Subcellular Processing in CNS Cells iv. Beuthan, J.; Minet, O.: Fluorescence Diagnosis in the Border Zone of Liver Tumors