Generalized two-dimensional heterocorrelation analysis of spectrally resolved and temporally resolved fluorescence of the 8-anilino-1-naphthalenesulfonate-apomyoglobin complex with pH perturbation.

We demonstrate two-dimensional heterocorrelation analysis between spectrally resolved and temporally resolved fluorescence to investigate the decay dynamics of the 8-anilino-1-naphthalenesulfonate- (ANS-) apomyoglobin complex. The dynamic changes of the lifetime components are disclosed across the emission spectrum with an external pH-perturbation. Two different fluorescence lifetime schemes of the ANS-apomyoglobin complex are revealed. From pH 8.5 to 4.5, the transition of protein conformation from the native state to the folding intermediate, a short lifetime component is found to correlate with a short-wavelength emission whose population diminishes with decreasing pH. The lifetime components reflect the excited-state populations of the nascent and the charge-transfer species. From pH 4.2 to 1.0, the transition from the folding intermediate to the acid-unfolded state, the short lifetime is responsible for a long-wavelength emission and the fraction of this component increases when the solution becomes more acidic. In this pH range, the decay components reflect the ground-state populations of microenvironments. The relative decay dynamics across the emission spectrum are revealed without collecting decays at each wavelength. More importantly, these conclusions are reached without the necessity of statistical fitting of the decay data with an a priori decay model.