Biomimetic Synthesis of Organic Molecular-Doped Fluorescent Guanine Crystals with Pearlescence

Biomimetic synthesis of guanine crystals has been focused on in the last years. However, multi-functional guanine crystals occluded with fluorescent molecules have not been realized in the laboratory. Here, the controllable synthesis of guanine crystal microplatelets with fluorescence and pearlescence was achieved for the first time by incorporating Nile red (NR) or fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) molecules into guanine crystals. The synthesized fluorescent guanine crystals are pure β-phase anhydrous guanine single crystals. Aqueous suspensions with NR- and FITC-doped guanine crystals exhibit distinct pearlescence. The fluorescence intensities of NR and FITC were greatly enhanced after being doped into guanine crystals due to the inhibition of aggregation-caused quenching. Moreover, films composed of fluorescent guanine microplatelets exhibit high diffuse reflection intensity (70 %). This work provides a strategy to synthesize multifunctional materials composed of organic crystals occluded with dyes.