Photoacoustic spectral studies on lanthanide amino acid complexes

Several kinds of lanthanide complexes with glycine, alanine, phenylalanine, and tryptophan were synthesized and their photoacoustic (PA) spectra were measured. For the complexes of weakly fluorescent lanthanide ions with amino acids, the PA spectra reflect the influences of the ligands on the energy levels of lanthanide ions, whereas for the complexes of fluorescent lanthanide ions with amino acids, the PA spectra can be used to study the energy transfer from aromatic amino acids to lanthanide ions. At last, separating the overlapping peaks of lanthanide complex with tryptophan using the PA phase resolved method is introduced. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.