Cleavage-induced fluorescence change via hydrophilicity control: A new strategy for biological application

Abstract

In this work, we report a novel stimuli-sensitive probe working on the principle of the cleavage-induced fluorescent change via hydrophilicity control. In our Si-Py-Ac-PEG probe, cleavage of hydrophilic PEG moiety in acidic environment induces hydrophobic interaction of pyrenes to increase their excimer emission. Our fluorescent probe (Si-Py-Ac-PEG) was successfully applied to the spotting microarray and nanoparticle suspension to demonstrate the potential of biological applications, i.e. protein chip and bioimaging.