Quenchers

A dark quencher (also known as a dark sucker) is a substance that absorbs excitation energy from a fluorophore and dissipates the energy as heat; while a typical (fluorescent) quencher re-emits much of this energy as light. Dark quenchers are used in molecular biology in conjunction with fluorophores. When the two are close together, such as in a molecule or protein, the fluorophore’s emission is suppressed. This effect can be used to study molecular geometry and motion.