Considerable interests exist in searching for novel fluorescent probes that can target specific biological tissues/molecules to meet the need for advanced bioimaging. As one of few classes of natural dyes, flavonoids have emerged to be an interesting molecular unit for sensor design, due to their low toxicity, high fluorescence quantum yield, excellent cell permeability, and environmental sensitivity.  In this contribution, flavonoids with different substituents have been synthesized, and are used to stain biological cells such as oligodendrocytes to examine their fluorescence response. These flavonoids were essentially non-fluorescent in an aqueous environment, due to hydrogen bonding with solvent.  Upon addition of serum albumin, the most abundant protein in blood plasma, the fluorescence of flavonoids was turned on by as large as 1,000 fold, as flavonoids entered a hydrophobic pocket of biomolecule.  Investigation by mass spectrometry showed that each protein incorporated only one flavonoid dye, forming a stable flavonoid-protein complex. When applying the flavonoids to stain zebrafish, a model organism for studying developmental process, the dye was found to enter the fish body and selectively stain certain tissue (such as muscle) or organ of zebrafish.      <br/> <br/> <br/>

Molecular imaging by using environmental sensitive flavonoid dyes: From protein binding to specific biological tissue recognition

256th National Meeting (2018)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.