| Abstract
| - We describe a new approach to making luminophores thatdisplay long emission wavelengths, long decay times, andhigh quantum yields. These luminophores are covalentlylinked pairs with a long-lifetime resonance-energy-transfer(RET) donor and a long-wavelength acceptor. The donorwas a ruthenium (Ru) metal−ligand complex. The acceptor was the Texas Red. The donor and acceptor werecovalently linked by polyproline spacers. The long-lifetimedonor results in a long-lived component in the acceptordecay, which is due to RET. Importantly, the quantumyield of the luminophores approaches that of the higherquantum yield acceptor, rather than the lower quantumyield typical of metal−ligand complexes. The emissionmaxima and decay time of such tandem luminophores canbe readily adjusted by selection of the donor, acceptor,and distance between them. Luminophores with theseuseful spectral properties can also be donor−acceptorpairs brought into close proximity by some biochemicalassociation reaction. Luminophores with long-wavelengthemission and long lifetimes can have numerous applications in biophysics, clinical diagnostics, DNA analysis,and drug discovery.
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