Triphenylmethane dyes as fluorescent probes for G-quadruplex recognition

Triphenylmethane (TPM) dyes normally render rather weak fluorescence due to easy vibrational deexcitation. However, when they stack onto the two external G-quartets of a G-quadruplex (especially intramolecular G-quadruplex), such vibrations will be restricted, resulting in greatly enhanced fluorescence intensities. Thus, TPM dyes may be developed as sensitive G-quadruplex fluorescent probes. Here, fluorescence spectra and energy transfer spectra of five TPM dyes in the presence of G-quadruplexes, single- or double-stranded DNAs were compared. The results show that the fluorescence spectra of four TPM dyes can be used to discriminate intramolecular G-quadruplexes from intermolecular G-quadruplexes, single- and double-stranded DNAs. The energy transfer fluorescence spectra and energy transfer fluorescence titration can be used to distinguish G-quadruplexes (including intramolecular and intermolecular G-quadruplexes) from single- and double-stranded DNAs. Positive charges and substituent size in TPM dyes may be two important factors in influencing the binding stability of the dyes and G-quadruplexes.     

Acid-base equilibrium of anionic dyes partially bound to micelles of nonionic surfactants

The acid-base equilibria of the sulfonephthalein dyes, namely, bromothymol blue, thymol blue, and cresol red, in aqueous nonionic micellar solutions of Triton X-100, Tween-20, Tween-40, Tween-60, and Tween-80 have been investigated. The equilibrium constants of the partition of the dyes between micellar and aqueous pseudophases have been determined spectrophotometrically at fixed pH. The K(ass) increased with the surfactants in the order Tween-80相似文献   

Elimination of surfactants and small dyes from water with silica-supported dendritic amphiphiles

Silica-supported branched polyethylenimine(Sil@PEI) is a conventional adsorbent and shows a limited affinity to anionic surfactants and small dyes(K = 106?107 L/mol). If the PEI is alkylated with cetyl groups(C16), the K of the resulting adsorbents(Sil@PEI@C16-x, where x is the fraction of PEI units being alkylated) is significantly improved. Optimization shows that Sil@PEI@C16-0.15 can best reduce aqueous surfactants to a residue around 10?10 mol/L; while Sil@PEI@C16-0.6 can reduce even small aqueous dyes to a residue below 10?10 mol/L, nearly 105-fold lower than that by Sil@PEI. The adsorbents are well recyclable. It is believed that in the case of dyes, the dense cetyl shell can isolate the PEI from the bulky water and thus suppress the competitive binding by water; while in the case of surfactants, the semiclosed cetyl shell can simultaneously meet electrostatic complement and hydrophobic complement to the surfactants.     

玉米蛋白/吐温-20复合纳米颗粒对姜黄素的包载作用

本文采用反溶剂沉淀法制备了玉米蛋白/吐温-20复合纳米颗粒。通过测定玉米蛋白/吐温-20复合纳米颗粒对姜黄素的包封率、稳定性及荧光光谱性质,考察了不同浓度吐温-20对玉米蛋白/吐温-20复合纳米颗粒包载姜黄素的影响规律。相比玉米蛋白纳米颗粒,玉米蛋白/吐温-20复合纳米颗粒能够显著提高姜黄素的包封率、稳定性、荧光发射光谱强度和各向异性。这些结果说明姜黄素通过疏水作用缔合于玉米蛋白/吐温-20复合纳米颗粒的疏水微区。吐温-20作为稳定剂不仅有助于生成粒径较小的玉米蛋白/吐温-20复合纳米颗粒,而且吐温-20与玉米蛋白的结合能够为姜黄素提供更适合的疏水缔合环境。     

Comparative study on the interaction of DNA with three different kinds of surfactants and the formation of multilayer films

The interactions between double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) and three different kinds of surfactants, i.e., cationic, anionic, and nonionic surfactants, were investigated by cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and UV-vis spectroscopy. Multilayer films composed of DNA and surfactants were prepared at gold electrode by electrostatic or hydrophobic interactions. It was found that the cationic surfactant, CTAB, can bind to DNA by electrostatic interaction, and the electron transfer resistance of CTAB-DNA complex film increases first and then decreases with CTAB concentration. The anionic surfactant, LAS, can bind to DNA but by hydrophobic interaction, and the electron transfer resistance of the complex film keeps decreasing with LAS concentration. Nonionic surfactants can also directly bind to DNA by hydrophobic interaction. All the three different kinds of surfactants can form multilayer films with DNA on the electrode surface. The chemical structure of DNA keeps unchanged during interacting with these surfactants. The binding modes of DNA with these three different kinds of surfactants were also deduced.     

Tetrakis-acridinyl peptide: a novel fluorometric reagent for nucleic acid analysis based on the fluorescence dequenching upon DNA binding

Tetrakis-acridinyl peptide 1 assuming a right-handed helical stacked conformation of the acridinyl units can bind to DNA duplex with a very high affinity of 10(8) (M-bp)(-1) even at a high salt concentration of 0.2 M NaCl, irrespective of the base composition. Peptide 1 gave rise to 1600-times enhancement of its fluorescence upon binding to an AT polymer due to the collapse of this stacked structure, but the fluorescence is not enhanced with a GC polymer, though the binding constants of 1 for both polymers were the same.     

Spectral Studies on the Binding Behavior of Cationic Dyes and Surfactants with Bacterial Polysaccharide of Klebsiella K43

The binding behavior of acidic capsular polysaccharide (SPS), isolated from Klebsiella serotype K43, with oppositely charged dyes and surfactants have been studied by way of absorbance and emission spectroscopic measurements. Each repeating unit of the SPS consists of three D-mannose, one D-galactose, and one D-glucuronic acid residue. The anionic polysaccharide exhibited chromotropic character and induced strong metachromasy in the cationic dye, pinacyanol chloride (PCYN) through the formation of a 1:1 stoichiometric complex. Evaluation of thermodynamic parameters, viz., changes in free energy (ΔG), enthalpy (ΔH), and entropy (ΔS), for the formation of dye-polymer complex and studies on the effect of different cosolvents were also evaluated to shed light on the binding nature as well as the extent of stability of the dye-polymer complex. Fluorescence of the cationic dye acridine orange (AO) was quenched with the progressive addition of SPS, which was found to be of Stern-Volmer type. Cationic surfactants in their pure form as well as in the mixed state with nonionic surfactant (Tween-20), replaced the dye bound to the polymer matrices; thus the original band intensities of the dyes could be reverted. Such studies revealed the involvement of both electrostatic as well as hydrophobic interactions between the dye-polymer as well as surfactant-polymer aggregates.     

几种表面活性剂与DNA的相互作用

用循环伏安、紫外－可见光谱和交流阻抗等方法，以电活性小分子亚甲基蓝（ MB）为探针，研究了几种表面活性剂与DNA的相互作用。研究发现，阴离子、阳离 子和非离子表面活性剂均可通过疏水和静电作用与固定在电极表面的DNA分子结合 ，改变电极表面DNA的状态，进而影响电活性小分子的电化学行为。阴离子表面活 性剂与DNA之间以静电排斥为主，也有部分疏水性结合，它使MB的氧化还原峰峰电 流减小。阳离子表面活性剂十六烷基三甲基溴化铵、十二烷基三甲基氯化铵均在一 定浓度范围内对MB的电化学响应有增敏作用，而代十六烷基吡啶、溴代十八烷基吡 啶表现出抑制效应，它们与DNA间既有疏水性作用，也有静电吸引。非离子表面活 性剂与DNA的结合较弱，其主要是通过改变溶液的性质（如粘度、极性和介电常数 等）影响DNA的构象，从而导致MB电化学参数的微弱变化。此外，表面活性剂疏水 链的长短及极性头基的大小对作用过程也有一定影响。     

Pre-irradiation of surfactants to enhance their capacity to solubilise drugs and dyes

The present work has used pre-irradiation of surfactants in order to enhance their capacity to solubilize hydrophobic drugs and dyes. Aqueous solution of two pluronic surfactants viz., F-127 and P-123 were subjected to gamma radiation. These irradiated surfactant solutions were used to solubilize five drugs such as ornidazole, tinidazole, ciprofloxacin, aceclofenac, and methylparaben, and two dyes, methyl orange and eosin yellow. Their capacity for enhancing solubilisation was compared with that of unirradiated surfactants. The irradiated surfactant solutions displayed 0.88%–31.9% higher solubilisation compared to unirradiated surfactant solutions. This phenomenon of enhancement in solubility is explained through changes in the physical properties like decreased surface tension and increased hydrodynamic radius in irradiated block polymeric surfactants. Irradiation of surfactants for enhancing their capacity to solubilize hydrophobic chemical entities has been used for the first time.     

Equilibrium analysis of reactions between aromatic anions and nonionic surfactant micelles by capillary zone electrophoresis.

Separability of some positional isomers of aromatic anions by capillary zone electrophoresis was improved by adding nonionic surfactants to a migrating solution. Eleven kinds of aromatic anions, including positional isomers, were used as analytes, and Brij-35, Brij-58 and Brij-78 were investigated as nonionic surfactants to form micelles, where hydrophobicities are different from each other. Increasing the concentration of the surfactants developed the separability of the anionic isomers. The interaction between the anions and the nonionic surfactant micelles is also investigated through the change in the electrophoretic mobility, and the binding constants are determined. Apparent electrophoretic mobility of the anions decreased with increasing concentrations of the nonionic surfactants. The decrease in the mobility, as well as the binding constant, was larger in the monovalent anions than in the divalent anions, which indicates that the interaction or reactivity of the monovalent analytes is higher than that of the divalent analytes. The reactivity of each anion was almost identical even when the kinds of the surfactants were changed, suggesting that the hydrophobicity of the polyoxyethylene group in the surfactant would have the main role for binding the analytes. The reactivity tendency among the positional isomers was almost similar to that in ion association-capillary zone electrophoresis using tertabutylammonium ion as a pairing ion. The results obtained in this work suggest that the anions are bound to the micelles by the hydrophobic interaction between analyte anions and the polyoxyethylene moiety of the surfactant micelles. Changes in the fluorescence intensity of the anions were also investigated; the results can explain well the mobility changes of the analytes.     

Enhance effect of surfactants on the photoluminescence and photostability of water-soluble poly(phenylene ethynylene)

The interaction between the water-soluble anionic fluorescence conjugated polyelectrolytes PPESO 3 (poly[2,5-bis(3-sulfonatopropoxy)-1,4-phenylethynylene-alt- 1,4-poly(phenylene ethynylene)]) and various surfactants has been studied in aqueous solution by UV-vis absorption spectra and fluorescence spectra. With the addition of surfactants, the aggregations of polymers are broken up. For eliminating the self-quenching effect of the fluorescent polymers, the photoluminescence of PPESO 3 is dramatically enhanced. The photoluminescence of PPESO 3 can be enhanced 6- to 12-fold with the addition of different surfactants, and at higher concentration of surfactants, the photostability of PPESO 3 is also highly increased. A "micelle incorporation model" is proposed to explain the enhancement of photostability. To deeply understand the interaction processes between PPESO 3 and surfactants, we systematically studied the fluorescence spectra changes of PPESO 3 and the dynamic processes at different CTAB concentrations. All results prove the surfactants can simultaneously enhance the photoluminescence and photostability of water-soluble conjugated polyelectrolytes, and this method is very simple and powerful.     

Interaction of Crown Ether‐Annelated Styryl Dyes with Double‐Stranded DNA

DNA‐binding properties of 15‐crown‐5‐derived mono‐ and bis‐styryl dyes were investigated in the presence of calf thymus DNA. To access the factors that influence the DNA association in the series of these ligands, the structure of the molecules was varied by either changing size of the heterocyclic moiety or altering the position of the styryl substituents. The major binding mode for the monostyryl dyes is intercalation. Notably, binding of the dyes to the nucleic acids leads to a fluorescence enhancement by a factor of up to 54. Therefore, these cationic styryl derivatives may be applied as fluorescent “light‐up” probes for DNA detection.     

Design and construction of glutamine binding proteins with a self-adhering capability to unmodified hydrophobic surfaces as reagentless fluorescence sensing devices

The chemically and genetically remodeling of proteins with ligand binding specificities can be utilized to synthesize various protein-based microsensors for detecting single biomolecules. Here, we describe the construction and characterization of fluorophore-labeled glutamine binding proteins (QBP) and derivatives coupled to the independently designed hydrophobic polypeptide (E12) that can adhere onto solid surfaces via hydrophobic interactions. The single cysteine mutant (N160C QBP) modified with the three environmentally sensitive fluorescent dyes (IAANS, acrylodan, and IANBD ester) showed increased changes in fluorescence intensity induced by glutamine binding. The use of these conjugates as reagentless fluorescence sensors enables us to determine the glutamine concentrations (0.1-50 microM) in homogeneous solution. The fusion of N160C QBP with E12, (Gly4-Ser)n spacers (GSn), and IANBD resulted in the novel fluorescence sensing elements having an adhering capability to hydrophobic surfaces of unmodified microplates. In ELISA and fluorescence experiments for the microplates treated with a series of the conjugates, IANBD-labeled N160C QBP-GS1-E12 displayed the best reproducibility in adhesion onto the hydrophobic surfaces and the precise correlation between fluorescence changes and glutamine concentrations. The performance of the biosensor-attached microplate for glutamine titrations demonstrated that the hydrophobic interaction of E12 with solid surfaces is useful for effective immobilization of proteins that need specific conformational movements in recognizing particular biomolecules. Therefore, the technique using E12 as a surface-linking domain for protein adhesion onto unmodified substrates could be applied effectively to prepare microplates/arrays for a wide variety of high-throughput assays on chemical and biological samples.     

Fluorescence Investigation of the Binding of Model PDT Drugs to Nonionic and Zwitterionic Surfactants

The binding of two model photodynamic therapy drugs, chlorin p ₆ and purpurin 18, with surfactants has been studied using steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence techniques. The surfactants used are amphiphilic nonionic surfactant (Tween 80 and Tween 40) and zwitterionic surfactant (HAPS). These have applications in drug delivery. The studies have been performed at pH 7 and 5 for chlorin p ₆ and at pH 7 for purpurin 18. The binding constants have been estimated from the change in fluorescence parameters and have been compared with those for Cremophor EL and human serum albumin. Chlorin p ₆ is found to bind to the surfactants to a greater extent at pH 5 than at pH 7. The same ionic species of chlorin p ₆ is found to exist at the maximum concentrations of the surfactants.     

Effect of Association of Bromophenol Blue with Tween Surfactants on Its Acid-Base Equilibria at High pH

The acid base equilibria of the sulfonephthalein dye bromophenol blue (BPB) in aqueous nonionic micellar solutions of Tween 20, Tween 40, Tween 60, and Tween 80 have been investigated spectroscopically using a partition equilibrium method. A visible red shift in the absorbance of the basic form of the dye with increase in surfactant concentration was observed at and above pH 6.98. This has been attributed to the stabilization of the acid form of the dye by the POE groups on the head of the surfactant monomers. Such stabilization effect was found to decreases with decrease in the number of carbon atom in the hydrophobic tail and with the increase in the hydrophile-lipophile balance (HLB) of the surfactant molecule. The equilibrium constant of the partition of the dyes between micellar and aqueous pseudophases (K_ass) was found to increase with the surfactants in the order Tween 80 < Tween 60 < Tween 40 < Tween 20. The pK_a2 of the dyes were predicted and found to be in good agreement with the experimental values.     

吐温表面活性剂囊泡对姜黄素的包载作用

本文研究了烷基链不饱和度对吐温表面活性剂囊泡包载姜黄素的影响。相比吐温-80囊泡,吐温-60囊泡的包载使姜黄素表现出更大的紫外吸收和荧光发射强度、缔合常数和DPPH自由基清除能力。核磁共振氢谱结果表明姜黄素缔合于吐温-60囊泡双分子层中的亲水头基附近,而且姜黄素的酚羟基与吐温-60的酯基产生氢键作用。在吐温-80囊泡中,双键会使吐温-80烷基链产生弯曲或折叠,导致双分子层排列更加松散、极性更高。因此,姜黄素除了与吐温-80的酯基产生氢键作用外,还能与吐温-80烷基链尾部和中部的亚甲基发生作用。     

In vivo targeting of organic calcium sensors via genetically selected peptides

A library of constrained peptides that form stable folded structures was screened for aptamers that bind with high affinity to the fluorescent dye Texas red. Two selected clones had binding constants to Texas red of 25 and 80 pM as phage and binding had minimal effects on the fluorescence of Texas red. The peptides interact with distinct but overlapping regions of Texas red. One peptide bound to X-rhod calcium sensors, which share the same core fluorophore as Texas red. These dyes retained calcium sensitivity when bound to the peptide. This peptide was used to label a fusion protein with X-rhod-5F in vivo, and X-rhod sensed changes in calcium locally. Thus, minimal, constrained peptides can functionally bind to environmentally sensitive dyes or other organic agents in biological contexts, suggesting tools for in vivo imaging and analysis.     

Experimental and computational investigation of unsymmetrical cyanine dyes: understanding torsionally responsive fluorogenic dyes

Unsymmetrical cyanine dyes are widely used in biomolecular detection due to their fluorogenic behavior, whereby fluorescence quantum yields can be very low in fluid solution but are significantly enhanced in conformationally restricted environments. Herein we describe a series of fluorinated analogues of the dye thiazole orange that exhibit improved fluorescence quantum yields and photostabilities. In addition, computational studies on these dyes revealed that twisting about the monomethine bridge beyond an interplanar angle of 60 degrees leads to a dark state that decays nonradiatively to the ground state, accounting for the observed fluorogenic behavior. The effects of position and number of fluorine substituents correlate with both observed quantum yield and calculated activation energy for twisting beyond this critical angle.     

胶束介质对2，3－氨基吩嗪光谱性质的影响及其荧光增敏机理研究

本文研究了胶束介质对邻苯二胺的酶催化氧化产物２，３－二氨基吩嗪的光谱性质的影响，发现胶束介质对其吸收光谱影响很小，非离子表面活性剂对其荧光具有强烈的增敏作用，荧光量子效率可提高近十倍。进一步研究表明，非离子表面活性剂对２，３－二氨基吩嗪的增敏原因在于其增溶作用及给电子效应。     

A study of interaction of cationic dyes with anionic polyelectrolytes

The interactions of Acridine Orange with Sodium Alginate and Pinacyanol Chloride with Heparin have been investigated by spectrophotometric method. The polymers induce metachromasy in the dye as evidenced from the considerable blue shift in the absorption maxima of the corresponding dyes. The interaction constant and thermodynamic parameters of polymer–dye interactions have been determined. The effect of additives such as alcohols, and urea on the reversal of metachromasy has been studied. The data has been used to determine the stability of the metachromatic complex and the nature of binding. The thermodynamic parameters of interaction revealed that binding between Acridine Orange and Sodium Alginate involved only electrostatic forces while that between Pinacyanol Chloride involved both electrostatic and hydrophobic forces. The reversal studies using surfactants indicated the involvement of both electrostatic and hydrophobic forces in binding. Based on the results it can be concluded that Pinacyanol Chloride is more effective inducing metachromasy than Acridine Orange.