A Smart Supramolecular Strategy Fine-Tunes the Molecular Aggregation
Behavior to Overcome the Aggregation-Caused Quenching (ACQ) Barrier in
Precise Bioimaging of Active Analytes
Abstract
Fluorescent molecular probes are commonly used to detect active
substances. However, in variable living microenvironmental systems, most
of conventional aromatic fluorescent probes often suffer from
aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) due to π-π stacking, which severely
limit their selectivity and sensitivity. To tackle this challenge, a
predictable supramolecular strategy, which offers significant spatial
effects to prevent fluorophore’s intermolecular π-π stacking at the
molecular level, was proposed to design fluorescent probes. Herein,
supramolecular probe RAA@Q[8] was successfully integrated by loading
an adamantane-modified Rhodamine derivative (RAA) into
cucurbit[8]uril (Q[8]) via the host-guest recognition principle.
Intriguingly, the original highly clustered RAA-agminated spheroids
become discrete supramolecular organic framework octahedrons
(RAA@Q[8]), suggesting that the molecular aggregation behavior is
well-modulated. This encouraging result is important for precise
detection of plant signaling molecules such as salicylic acid (SA) in
various environments. Experimental investigations found that
RAA@Q[8] was 2.2-fold more sensitive than RAA for detecting SA, with
high selectivity and anti-interference, and a low detection limit of
3.0×10 -8 M. Importantly, in complicated living
microenvironments, RAA@Q[8] achieved a precise recognition and
imaging of SA on pea sprouts and HEK-293 cells. This study offers a
guidance for future development of host-guest supramolecular fluorescent
probes that are opposite to the intractable ACQ obstacle.