THE QUENCHING OF TYROSINE AND TRYPTOPHAN FLUORESCENCE BY H2O AND D2O*

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Abstract
Abstract— The quantum yields and lifetimes of the fluorescence of tyrosine and tryptophan were determined in D2O‐H2O and glycerol‐H2O solvent mixtures of varying composition from 10 vol.% to 100% H2O at 15°C. Forboth amino acids the ratio of the quantum yields in D2O and H2O (i.e., qD/qH) was smaller than the ratio of the corresponding lifetimes (D/H). For tyrosine the ratio of the quantum yields in glycerol and H2O (qG/qH) was also smaller than the corresponding G/H ratio, but for tryptophan qG/gHG/H. The proximity of the q vs. plots for tyrosine in the two solvent mixtures indicates that at 15°C neither D2O nor glycerol, in the pure state or when diluted with H2O, quench tyrosine significantly. However, H2O quenches tyrosine by a dynamic process, which increases both the radiative and the nonradiative rate constant. The quenching action is attributed to a tyrosine‐H2O exciplex, whose formation is independent of bulk viscosity and dielectric constant. Unlike tyrosine, tryptophan is quenched weakly by D2O by a static process at 15°C (i.e., involving no change in), but H2O quenches tryptophan much more efficiently by a dynamic process, which involves the nonradiative rate constant, but not the radiative constant. These results are explained on the basis of electrostatic complexation of the ammonium group to the carbon atom adjacent to the ring nitrogen with a lifetime which is longer thanin D2O but shorter thanin H2O, with solvent reorientation possibly also being an important factor in the quenching. This explanation is consistent with the fact that concentrated (8 M) urea increases q andof aqueous tryptophan ˜ 15–20%, while guanidine hydrochloride (6.4 M) has the opposite effect, i.e., it decreases q and t of tryptophan ˜ 15–20%, and with the fact that neither 8 M urea nor 6.4 M guanidine hydrochloride affects any fluorescence parameter of tyrosine at all.