Dynamics of the fluorescence properties of pyrene residues appended to oligonucleotide hybridization probes.

The dynamic and static properties of the fluorescence of a pyrene-introduced oligonucleotide 16 mer and its hybrid with a target 32 mer. Their fluorescence quantum yields (< 1%) were much weaker than that of unsubstituted pyrene and their fluorescence lifetime of the major decay components were less than 1 ns. The rapid fluorescence quenching was due to the interaction between the fluorophore and bases in the oligonucleotides. The fluorescence of pyrene was quenched efficiently by TMP and slightly by AMP. The quenching by CMP and GMP were the intermediate case.