The influence of alkylation on the photophysical properties of BODIPYs and their labeling in blood plasma proteins

Abstract The influence of BODIPYs alkylation on the spectral properties in different polarity solvents, PMMA, Langmuir-Schaefer films was studied. The BODIPYs exhibit intense absorption and fluorescence in different nature solvents and PMMA films. The aggregation behavior of BODIPY in Langmuir–Schaefer films was studied. The interaction process of BODIPYs with BSA has been investigated by the multi-spectroscopic approach and molecular docking. It was found that under the selected conditions, the BODIPYs form stable supramolecular systems with BSA due to the prevailing specific interactions. For BODIPY - BSA systems, an increase in the length of 2,6-alkyl radicals in the BODIPY core is accompanied by an increase of the FRET efficiency. This leads to fluorescence enhancement of BODIPYs in the BSA presence. The possibilities of using BODIPYs for labeling hydrophobic regions of blood plasma proteins and biological objects visualization were substantiated.