Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

I. Designing Brighter Fluorophores: A Computational And Spectroscopic Approach To Predicting Photophysical Properties Of Hydrazone-Based Dyes Ii. Developing Spectroscopic Methods To Better Understand The Cofactors Of Metalloproteins, Morgan Cousins

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Luminogens are molecules that emit light upon exposure to high-energy light, and fluorophores are one class of luminogens. Applications of fluorophores range from microviscosity sensors to light emitting diodes (LEDs), as well as biosensors, just to name a few. Many of these applications require the fluorophore to be in the aggregate or solid state. Some fluorophores become highly emissive in the aggregate state; these fluorophores are aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminogens. Currently, very few quantum mechanical mechanisms have been proposed to describe the unique AIE behavior of luminogens.

Boron difluorohydrazone (BODIHY) dyes are a new type of AIE fluorophore. The bright …