Protein-encapsulated bilirubin: paving the way to a useful probe for singlet oxygen

When dissolved in a bulk solvent, bilirubin efficiently removes singlet molecular oxygen, O2(a(1)Δg), through a combination of chemical reactions and by promoting the O2(a(1)Δg)→O2(X(3)Σg(-)) nonradiative transition to populate the ground state of oxygen. To elucidate how such processes can be exploited in the development of a biologically useful fluorescent probe for O2(a(1)Δg), pertinent photophysical and photochemical parameters of bilirubin encapsulated in a protein were determined. The motivation for studying a protein-encapsulated system reflects the ultimate desire to (a) use genetic engineering to localize the probe at a specific location in a living cell, and (b) provide a controlled environment around the chromophore/fluorophore. Surprisingly, explicit values of oxygen- and O2(a(1)Δg)-dependent parameters that characterize the behavior of a given chromophore/fluorophore encased in a protein are not generally available. To the end of quantifying the effects of such an encasing protein, a recently discovered bilirubin-binding protein isolated from a Japanese eel was used. The data show that this system indeed preferentially responds to O2(a(1)Δg) and not to the superoxide ion. However, this protein not only shields bilirubin such that the rate constants for interaction with O2(a(1)Δg) decrease relative to what is observed in a bulk solvent, but the fraction of the total O2(a(1)Δg)-bilirubin interaction that results in a chemical reaction between O2(a(1)Δg) and bilirubin also decreases appreciably. The rate constants thus obtained provide a useful starting point for the general design and development of reactive protein-encased fluorescent probes for O2(a(1)Δg).