A versatile pH-dependent fluorescent protein was applied to intracellular pH measurements by means of the phasor approach to fluorescence lifetime imaging. By this fit-less method we obtain intracellular pH maps under resting or altered physiological conditions by single-photon confocal or two-photon microscopy.

Curcumin is a natural polyphenol able to bind the amyloid beta peptide, which is related to Alzheimer’s disease, and modify its self-assembly pathway. This paper focuses on a multi-disciplinary study that starts from the design of curcumin-like compounds with the key chemical features required for inhibiting amyloid beta aggregation, and reports the effects of these compounds on the in vitro aggregation of amyloid beta peptides. Chemoinformatic screening was performed through the calculation of molecular descriptors that were able to highlight the drug-like profile, followed by docking studies with an amyloid beta peptide fibril. The computational design underlined two different scaffolds that were easily synthesized in good yields. In vitro experiments, ranging from fluorescence spectroscopy and confocal microscopy up to small angle X-ray scattering, provided evidence that the synthesized compounds are able to modify the aggregation pattern of amyloid beta peptides both in the secondary structures, and in terms of the overall structure dimensions. The cytotoxic potential of the synthesized compounds was finally tested in vitro with a model neuronal cell line (LAN5). The overall view of this study suggests new concepts and potential difficulties in the design of novel drugs against diverse amyloidoses, including Alzheimer’s disease.

Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) are devices designed to efficiently collect both direct and diffuse solar radiation and concentrate it on photovoltaic cells to foster their use in building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). The optimization of LSC performances involves the adjustment of both the fluorophore and the guest polymer matrix. On this account, we investigated a series of high quantum yield, donor–acceptor–donor (D–A–D) photostable fluorophores (DQ1–5), presenting a central quinoxalinic acceptor core, not previously employed in LSCs, and triarylamines or phenothiazine as donor groups. The molecules were also decorated with alkyl chains on the central core and/or the donor groups, to explore their compatibility with the poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and poly(cyclohexyl methacrylate) (PCMA) matrices utilized in this study. The PMMA and PCMA films (25 μm thick), containing 0.2–2.2 wt% of DQ1–5, absorbed in the 370–550 nm range and presented emission maxima at 550–600 nm, with fluorescence quantum yields higher than 40% even at the highest doping contents. Notably, the DQ1/PMMA thin-films showed enhanced phase compatibility and excellent quantum yields, i.e., >95%. Accordingly, they were designed to obtain 25 cm² area LSCs with remarkable internal (η_int) and external (η_ext) photon efficiencies of 42.9% and 6.2%, respectively, higher than those observed from state-of-the-art devices based on the Lumogen Red 305 (LR305) as the reference fluorophore. Overall, these were the best results ever achieved in our laboratory for thin-film LSCs built with organic fluorescent emitters.

Graphene oxide (GO) is a versatile material obtained by the strong oxidation of graphite. Among its peculiar properties, there is the outstanding ability to significantly alter the fluorescence of many common fluorophores and dyes. This property has been exploited in the design of novel switch-ON and switch-OFF fluorescence biosensing platforms for the detection of a plethora of biomolecules, especially pathological biomarkers and environmental contaminants. Currently, novel advanced strategies are being developed for therapeutic, diagnostic and theranostic approaches to widespread pathologies caused by viral or bacterial agents, as well as to cancer. This work illustrates an overview of the most recent applications of GO-based sensing systems relying on its fluorescence quenching effect.

Hue evaluation from HSV colour space provides a fast and cost-effective tool for the detection of deformation in polymers loaded with the mechanosensitive fluorescent dye BBS.