Spectroscopy and non-linear optical properties of DNA - Bilberry complex
Introduction
Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) is a fruit known also as European blueberry [1], huckleberry or whortleberry [2]. It grows abundantly in the Northern and Eastern areas of Europe [1], usually on acid soils, from marginal forests up to high altitude [3]. In bilberries fruit, anthocyanins represent about 90% of the total phenolic compounds [1]. The bilberry extract has beneficial effects as antioxidant, hypoglycemic and lipid-lowering agent [4]. Usually, it contains phenolic acids, tannins, flavonols (catechins, quercetin), resveratrol, hydroquinone, thiamin, vitamin C and mostly anthocyanosides, which are flavonoid derivatives of anthocyanins [1,2,4]. Anthocyanins are powerful antioxidants, water-soluble pigments that belong to the flavonoids class [5,6] and are naturally synthesized in the epidermal tissue. They confer the red, blue and purple colors to the berries [5,7]. Also, anthocyanines have protective role against cold stress, but they are sensible to environmental factors such as temperature or light that may affect their stability [8]. The most commonly occuring anthocyanidins are delphinidins, cyanidins, malvidins and petunidins [1], (Fig. 1).
Synthetic polymers are subjected to slow degradation rates. Thus to avoid the pollution it is wishful to use natural materials such as biopolymers [9]. One of the main categories of biopolymers are polynucleotides like DNA and RNA which are long chain polymers composed of 13 or more nucleotide monomers [10,11]. In previous studies, good optical properties were exhibited when DNA was used in combination with natural extracts [9]. The non-linear optical (NLO) properties of thin films are usually investigated using the Third Harmonic Generation [[12], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [20], [21]].
In this paper we report on preparation and characterization of a new biomaterial in view of its application in photonics. The composite material was obtained by doping, in solution, the DNA extract with bilberry natural extract. It was characterized by UV–Vis spectroscopy and fluorescence studies to evaluate its linear optical properties. Furthermore, the nonlinear optical (NLO) properties characterization of functionalized thin films was performed by the optical third harmonic generation (THG) measurements at 1064.2 nm fundamental wavelength. The optical damage threshold measurements were also performed in order to establish the applicability of DNA-BBE thin films in photonics.
Section snippets
Materials, equipment and thin films processing
A low molecular mass deoxyribonucleic acid, purchased from Sigma Aldrich Company, was used in this study. The bilberry natural hydroalcoholic extract used for this study had a concentration of approximately 50% and was received from Hofigal S.A. The UV–Vis linear optical absorption spectra were recorded using 1 cm quartz cuvettes, in 200–800 nm spectral range, on an instrument from Thermo Scientific, Evolution 220 model, with integrated Insight v. 2.3.345 Software. The optical fluorescence
UV-VIS absorption spectra
The UV–Vis absorption spectra of the solutions, prepared using different concentrations of bilberry extract in 0.05 g/L DNA solution are displayed in Fig. 2. The spectra present a specific absorption peak for the DNA at 260 nm [22,23]. Also, for the bilberry extract specific peaks at 278 nm and 309 nm were identified and are assigned to a multitude of phenolic compounds such as hydroxybenzoic acids [2] and cyanidins from the class of anthocyanins [24], respectively to flavanols and flavonols [2
Conclusions
In this study we show that novel all biodegradable, originating from renewable ressources, non toxic, photonic materials can be obtained. These materials exhibit a high optical damage threshold, larger than the synthetic polymers. They can be processed into good optical quality thin films by the solution casting method, what is very important for application in integrated optics. The photosensitive, nature made, molecule bilberry exhibits blue fluorescence showing potential of application in
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
The authors acknowledge the financial support of UEFISCDI organism, under Contract Number 7/2018, Code Project PN-III-P1-1.1-PD-2016-0580, BIO-COL-DNA.
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