Propagation rate coefficients, k p , of N-vinyl pyrrolidone (NVP) radical polymerization in aqueous solution have been measured via the pulsed-laser polymerization -size exclusion chromatography method (PLP-SEC) over an extended concentration range from 1.8 to 100 wt % NVP at temperatures between 2 and 60°C. The SEC analyses have been carried out by a modified procedure using dimethyl acetamide as the eluent. An about 20-fold increase of k p is observed in passing from NVP bulk polymerization to reaction in dilute aqueous solution. As with nonionized methacrylic acid (MAA), for which a similarly strong change in k p has recently been reported, the large solvent effect in NVP polymerization is assigned to intermolecular interactions resulting in a significant hindrance of internal rotational motion in the transition state structure for propagation. Some contribution from a minor change in activation energy may however not be ruled out. PLP-SEC studies carried out on aqueous NVP solutions to which either polyNVP or N-ethyl-2-pyrrolidone (NEP), the saturated analogue of NVP, have been added, demonstrate that k p depends on the molecular environment at the reactive site, which is affected by NVP (or NEP) content, but not by the polyNVP content. The lowering of monomer concentration during NVP polymerization to higher degrees of monomer conversion results in an increase of k p . Variation of pH in the range 3 to 10 does not affect k p .

The study of biological systems in their real environmental conditions is crucial to decipher the true image of structures and processes underlying their functionality. In this regard, development of non‐invasive optical techniques that do not require labelling, such as the investigation of tissue endogenous fluorescence, is particularly important and, as reflected in the increasing number of contributions published recently on this subject, was recognized by many leading groups. Multi‐spectral and lifetime detection of fluorescence provides an effective experimental tool to discriminate between multiple naturally‐occurring fluorophores in living tissues. At the same time, however, data analysis allowing us to understand the spectral, temporal and spatial information gathered, describing individual molecules involved in the autofluorescence of intact biological systems, represents a tough scientific challenge that has not yet been fully resolved. In this review, we discuss the latest advances in technologies that record and assess spectrally‐resolved fluorescence lifetime data as well as their biological and clinical applications. We show how these methods provide efficient sensing of molecules correlated with changes in the mitochondrial metabolic redox state in pathological conditions and/or of cell ultrastructures in diseased tissue, based on the presence of oxidation/reductionsensitive fluorophores and/or cell‐specific chromophores. Future directions are also outlined. (© 2009 by Astro Ltd., Published exclusively by WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA)

We applied linear unmixing approach to reveal individual components of intrinsic flavin fluorescence signal recorded in living cardiac cells by spectrally resolved confocal microscopy. Responses of whole-cell autofluorescence to modulators of cell metabolism and respiration were used as a tool of separation of its components; their spectral profiles, estimated by principal component analysis, correspond to free FAD and FAD bound to different enzymes of electron transport chain.

A new setup for time-resolved fluorescence micro-spectroscopy of cells, based on multi-dimensional time-correlated single photon counting, was designed and tested. Here we demonstrate that the spectrometer allows fast and reproducible measurements of endogenous flavin fluorescence measured directly in living cardiac cells after excitation with visible picosecond laser diodes. Two complementary approaches for the analysis of spectrally- and time-resolved autofluorescence data are presented, comprising the fluorescence decay fitting by exponential series and the time-resolved emission spectroscopy analysis. In isolated cardiac myocytes, we observed three distinct lifetime pools with characteristic lifetime values spanning from picosecond to nanosecond range and the time-dependent red shift of the autofluorescence emission spectra. We compared obtained results to in vitro recordings of free flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) and FAD in lipoamide dehydrogenase (LipDH). The developed setup combines the strength of both spectral and fluorescence lifetime analysis and provides a solid base for the study of complex systems with intrinsic fluorescence, such as identification of the individual flavinoprotein components in living cardiac cells. This approach therefore constitutes an important instrumental advancement towards redox fluorimetry of living cardiomyocytes, with the perspective of its applications in the investigation of oxidative metabolic state under pathophysiological conditions, such as ischemia and/or metabolic disorders.