Application Reactive probe containing fluorescent metal-ligand complex for determination of nucleotide base sequences. Features and Benefits Sigma-Aldrich offers a series of reactive dyes based on ruthenium complexes for use in fluorescence polarization assays and fluorescence lifetime imaging applications. They have been designed specifically to have long fluorescence lifetimes. These dyes were first synthesized in the labs of Dr. Joseph Lakowicz at the Center for Fluorescence Microscopy. These laser-excitable metal ligand complexes have fluorescence lifetimes near 500 nanoseconds. These dyes can be used to label amines on biomolecules under mild conditions. Advantages of these dyes as protein labels include high photostability, good water solubility, a lack of dye-dye interactions and large Stokes’ shifts. In addition, the fluorescence signal of long-lived fluorophores can be gated to eliminate the emission from short-lifetime fluorophores and autofluorescence from cells and biomolecules to further improve sensitivity. |