Ultrafast excited state dynamics of biliverdin dimethyl ester coordinate with zinc ions

As one of the biological endogenous pigments, biliverdin (BV) and its dimethyl ester (BVE) have extremely weak fluorescence in solution with quantum yield less than 0.01%. However, the situation reverses with the addition of zinc ions. The strength for fluorescence of BVE-Zn²⁺ complex is greatly enhanced and fluorescence quantum yield can increase to 5%. Herein, we studied ultrafast excited state dynamics of BVE-Zn²⁺ complex in ethanol, n-propanol, and DMSO solutions in order to reveal the mechanism of fluorescence quantum yield enhancement. The results show that BVE can form a stable coordination complex with zinc with 1:1 stoichiometry in solution. BVE is structurally and energetically more stable in the complex. Using picosecond time-resolve fluorescence and femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, we show that smaller non-radiative rate constant of BVE-Zn²⁺ complex in DMSO is the key to increasing its fluorescence quantum yield and the excited state decay mechanism is also revealed. These results provide valuable information about the fluorescence property change after BVE binding to metal ions and may provide a guidance for the study of phytochromes or other fluorescence proteins in which BV/BVE acts as chromophores.