Issue 30, 2020

Detection of magnetic field effects by confocal microscopy

Abstract

Certain pairs of paramagnetic species generated under conservation of total spin angular momentum are known to undergo magnetosensitive processes. Two prominent examples of systems exhibiting these so-called magnetic field effects (MFEs) are photogenerated radical pairs created from either singlet or triplet molecular precursors, and pairs of triplet states generated by singlet fission. Here, we showcase confocal microscopy as a powerful technique for the investigation of such phenomena. We first characterise the instrument by studying the field-sensitive chemistry of two systems in solution: radical pairs formed in a cryptochrome protein and the flavin mononucleotide/hen egg-white lysozyme model system. We then extend these studies to single crystals. Firstly, we report temporally and spatially resolved MFEs in flavin-doped lysozyme single crystals. Anisotropic magnetic field effects are then reported in tetracene single crystals. Finally, we discuss the future applications of confocal microscopy for the study of magnetosensitive processes with a particular focus on the cryptochrome-based chemical compass believed to lie at the heart of animal magnetoreception.

Graphical abstract: Detection of magnetic field effects by confocal microscopy

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
08 apr 2020
Accepted
27 iyn 2020
First published
22 iyl 2020
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2020,11, 7772-7781

Detection of magnetic field effects by confocal microscopy

V. Déjean, M. Konowalczyk, J. Gravell, M. J. Golesworthy, C. Gunn, N. Pompe, O. Foster Vander Elst, K. Tan, M. Oxborrow, D. G. A. L. Aarts, S. R. Mackenzie and C. R. Timmel, Chem. Sci., 2020, 11, 7772 DOI: 10.1039/D0SC01986K

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements