A far-red fluorescent probe for selective G-quadruplex DNA targeting

作者：Zhang, Feng; Li, Gan; Lv, Fang-Lei; Jiang, Guang-Bin; Wang, Han-Xiang; Wang, Ming-Qi^*; Li, Shuo^*

来源：Tetrahedron Letters, 2018, 59(34): 3272-3278.

DOI：10.1016/j.tetlet.2018.07.037

• G-quadruplex
• Far-red
• Fluorescent probe
• Styrylquinolinium scaffold

The development of rapid and simple approaches for detection of G-quadruplex DNA structures has attracted significant attention to disclose their diverse, physiological and pathological functions. Thiazole orange (TO) is a common fluorescence probe used for the detection of G-quadruplexes. However, it still suffers from some common problems like non-selective for G-quadruplex and emission in the lower wavelength region of spectrum, thus hampering its further applications. Probes with turn-on fluorescence in the far-red region are highly sought-after due to minimal auto-fluorescence and cellular damage. In this paper, we described a far-red fluorescent probe (L-1) by introducing an amine group into styrylquinolinium scaffold. The experimental results indicated that L-1 exhibited significant fluorescence enhancement when treated with G-quadruplexes but retained weak fluorescence in the presence of duplex DNAs. In addition, this probe also displayed higher binding affinity for parallel G-quadruplexes. The characteristics of L-1 were further investigated with UV-vis spectrophotometry, fluorescence, circular dichroism, KI quenching, FID assay and molecular docking to validate optical photophysical properties, as well as the selectivity, sensitivity and detailed binding mode toward G-quadruplex DNAs.

• 出版日期2018-8-22
• 单位中国石油大学（北京）; 江苏大学; 重庆理工大学