An Efficient and Reversible Singlet Oxygen Quencher for Suppressing Photobleaching of Organic Fluorescent Dyes

Abstract

Quenching singlet oxygen is the key to improve photostability of fluorescent dyes. We have systematically studied the capability of a new singlet oxygen quencher, DABCOnium (an alkylated derivative of 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2] octane) on removing singlet oxygen. Results showed that DABCOnium can significantly enhancing photostability of fluorescent thin films for more than 4.3 times compared with that without DABCOnium. After 2 hours of continuous irradiation, fluorescent film doped with DABCOnium retained 90 % of its original fluorescence intensity, which paves a new way in designing high performance singlet oxygen quenchers.