Instruments and me
Now, naturally, with all these discoveries, one needed to experiment directly with me and thus needed to observe me. Otto Heimstaedt and Heinrich Lehmann (1911-1913) developed the first microscopes for studying my properties as an outgrowth of the UV microscope (1901-1904). The instrument was used to investigate the autofluorescence of bacteria, protozoa, plant and animal tissues, and bioorganic substances such as albumin, elastin, and keratin.
Stanislav Von Prowazek (1914) employed the fluorescence microscope to study dye binding to living cells.
In the inorganic field, Nichols and Slattery (1929) report the first observation of the intense fluorescence of uranium in a NaF matrix. Hieger (1930) found that the fluorescence spectrum (measured photographically) of 1,2-benzanthracene resembled the spectra of some cancer-producing coal tars. Cook and his associates (1933) isolated a few grams of 3,4-benzpyrene from two tons of coal tar and demonstrated that its fluorescence spectrum was identical to that of the active tars. Much later, Gregorio Weber (1952) synthesized dansyl chloride for attachment to proteins and used polarization to study protein hydrodynamics – these studies initiated the field of quantitative biological fluorescence.
If we now look at the field of drugs, it will be interesting to note that Albert Coons (1941) labelled antibodies with FITC, thus giving birth to the field of immunofluorescence. Brodie and Udenfriend (1943) introduce a simple method for the determination of quinine, and its dextro-rotatory stereoisomer quinidine, in plasma. Saltzman (1948) introduces fluorimetric methods for salicylates in blood.
Shimomura, Johnson and Saiga (1962) discovered Green Fluorescent Protein in the Aequorea victoria jellyfish.
You must be knowing that during World War II, there was a huge breakout of malaria. The United States government issued a desperate call to scientists and doctors to find a treatment for malaria. Since Japan had taken over most of the world’s supply of quinine — the best known treatment— Allied forces in the Pacific Theatre needed a new drug, and fast. With an instrument called a fluorometer, Brodie and Udenfriend could measure how much of the drug was in a patient’s plasma sample. Much later, the spectrophotofluorometer was devised by Aminco-Bowman (Silver Spring, MD) and Farrand Optical Co. (Walhalla, NY) which costs about $100,000 in 2009 !
Several scientists have contributed their lives in discovering my properties and occurrences. Would you like to know more?
Suggested Reading:
[1] Joseph R. Lakowicz, Fluorescence Spectroscopy, 3rd edition, Springer, 2006.
[2] Bernard Valeur, Mario N. Berberan-Santos, Molecular Fluorescence; Principles and Applications, 2nd edition, Wiley-VCH Verlag & Co.,2012.
[3] M. Sameiro, T. Goncalves, Fluorescent Labeling of Biomolecules with Organic Probes, Chemical Reviews, Vol.109, pp.190–212, 2009.
[4] F.W.D. Rost, Fluorescence Microscopy, Volume 1, Cambridge University Press., 1992.
[5] Amrit Krishna Mitra, I Am the Light Beneath Your Eyes… A Short History of the Discovery and Properties of Fluorescence, Resonance – Journal of Science Education, Vol.24, pp.623-632, 2019
