Fluorescence line-narrowing spectroscopy for probing purposes in bioanalytical and environmental chemistry

Fluorescence line-narrowing spectroscopy (FLNS) is a cryogenic technique that can be used to obtain high-resolution fluorescence spectra. The technique has mainly been used for fingerprint identification. However, this review focuses on the trend to use FLNS for probing purposes: obtaining information on interactions with the local environment or determining conformations.We briefly discuss the basics of FLNS, solute-matrix interactions and important instrumental aspects. We describe examples from various bioanalytical fields: DNA adducts of the aromatic carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene (BP); binding of BP metabolites to monoclonal antibodies or the estrogen receptor; FLNS studies of porphyrin-containing proteins; and, photosynthetic systems.As an illustration from the field of environmental chemistry, we discuss the use of luminescence line-narrowing spectroscopy – a special mode of FLNS – to study the complexation of lanthanides to humic substances.