Novel precursors of fluorescent dyes. 1. Interaction of the dyes with model phospholipid in monolayers.

Photoactivated ("caged") fluorescent dyes are modern tools for structure and function studies of cell membranes and subcellular organelles. Recently synthesized precursors of rhodamine fluorescent dyes (abbreviations PFD813 and PFD814) important for microscopic probing of biological objects have been studied in solution. In order to characterize the behavior at interfaces, monolayers of PFD813 and PFD814 on water have been formed and investigated. The interactions of these precursors with the biomembrane component dimyristoylphosphatidylethanolamine in monolayers at the air-water interface and after transfer to glass plates have been studied by measuring monolayer parameters and spectroscopic properties before and after photo-chemical formation of the fluorescent rhodamine dyes Rho813 and Rho814, respectively.