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Research Work
Diverse application of lanthanide-based soft materials
Our lab work mainly focuses on the application of lanthanide-based soft materials such as lanthanide cholate hydrogel. Lanthanides are well known for their unique photophysical properties: sharp, line-like emission, large Stokes’ shift, and long excited-state lifetimes. But they suffer from low intrinsic emission due to the poor molar extinction coefficient value. However, the lanthanide luminescence can be enhanced by doping a small organic chromophore inside lanthanide cholate hydrogel. The organic molecule (sensitizer) transfers its excitation energy to the lanthanide center (also known as the “antenna effect”), ensuing strong luminescent gel.
Based on this non-covalent approach of lanthanide sensitization, we develop novel protocols for enzyme assay and small biomolecule sensing. The sensitizer molecule is chemically modified to mask its energy transfer ability. The masked sensitizer, the pro-sensitizer, results in a weakly luminescent gel. However, adding an analyte (enzyme or small molecule) triggers the unmasking process, and the sensitizer is released. Thus, it results in turn-on luminescence response allowing analyte detection.
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