Intriguing Tautomerism of Lumichrome in Binary Aqueous Solvent Mixtures: Implications for Probing Microenvironments.

The water-assisted tautomerism of lumichrome (LC) in binary aqueous-organic solvent mixtures exhibits intriguing spectroscopic features. An especially striking and novel observation is the occurrence of an induction period or lag time for the evolution of the isoalloxazine form of LC from the excited alloxazine form. It is inferred that the observed lag time provides an overview of the changing H-bond network of the surrounding water molecules, at various compositions of the mixed solvent systems. The unique spectral changes for the water-assisted tautomerization of LC, along with the observed lag times, can offer exciting prospects for the use of LC as a promising site-specific probe, to examine complex aqueous microenvironments and active biological systems.