Molecular engineering of a wash-free, clover-like G-quadruplex fluorescent probe that exploits a new mechanism of disaggregation-and-binding-induced emission

Abstract

In this study, we raised a brand-new principle termed disaggregation-and-binding-induced emission (DBIE) for the design of G4 fluorescent probes, which may overcome the shortcomings of the disaggregation-induced emission (DIE) and aggregation-induced emission (AIE) principles. On this basis, a wash-free, clover-like fluorescent probe (TCN3) that could detect either in vitro or cellular DNA G4s was rationally developed. To be noted, this DBIE mechanism may be utilized to design promising fluorescent probes targeting other biotargets.