Fluorescence umpolung enables light-up sensing of N-acetyltransferases and nerve agents

Chenxu Yan, Zhiqian Guo, Weijie Chi, Wei Fu, Syed Ali Abbas Abedi, Xiaogang Liu, He Tian and Wei-Hong Zhu ()
Additional contact information
Chenxu Yan: Institute of Fine Chemicals, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science & Technology
Zhiqian Guo: Institute of Fine Chemicals, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science & Technology
Weijie Chi: Singapore University of Technology and Design
Wei Fu: Institute of Fine Chemicals, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science & Technology
Syed Ali Abbas Abedi: Singapore University of Technology and Design
Xiaogang Liu: Singapore University of Technology and Design
He Tian: Institute of Fine Chemicals, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science & Technology
Wei-Hong Zhu: Institute of Fine Chemicals, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science & Technology

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) is a fundamental mechanism that enables the development of numerous fluorophores and probes for bioimaging and sensing. However, the electron-withdrawing targets (EWTs)-induced fluorescence quenching is a long-standing and unsolved issue in ICT fluorophores, and significantly limits the widespread applicability. Here we report a simple and generalizable structural-modification for completely overturning the intramolecular rotation driving energy, and thus fully reversing the ICT fluorophores’ quenching mode into light-up mode. Specifically, the insertion of an indazole unit into ICT scaffold can fully amplify the intramolecular rotation in donor-indazole-π-acceptor fluorophores (fluorescence OFF), whereas efficiently suppressing the rotation in their EWT-substituted system (fluorescence ON). This molecular strategy is generalizable, yielding a palette of chromophores with fluorescence umpolung that spans visible and near-infrared range. This strategy expands the bio-analytical toolboxes and allows exploiting ICT fluorophores for light-up sensing of EWTs including N-acetyltransferases and nerve agents.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-24187-5 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-24187-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24187-5

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().