Small‐Molecule Quenchers for Förster Resonance Energy Transfer: Structure, Mechanism, and Applications

Abstract

For fluorogenic probes, Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) is one of the most widely used mechanisms to realize the detection of biochemical activities. Dark quenchers relax from the excited state to the ground state nonradiatively, and are promising alternatives to fluorescent FRET acceptors. Small-molecule (dark) quenchers have been widely used as acceptors in FRET-based probes to monitor various physiological processes with minimum background signal. Herein, we summarize the relevant advances of small-molecule quenchers that are used in FRET-based probes. This Review is intended to provide suggestions regarding the rationale design and selection of appropriate fluorophorequencher FRET pairs, which are fully compatible with challenging analytical applications in various biological systems. Finally, an outlook of the future biomedical applications and developments of this field is presented.

Selective photodynamic eradication of senescent cells with a β-galactosidase-activated photosensitiser

“…S1b, ESI†) with a fluorescence quantum yield ( Φ f ) of 0.016 ( vs. 0.31 for 2 ) relative to fluorescein in NaOH aqueous solution (0.1 M, pH = 13, Φ f = 0.925). 21 As BHQ-2 is a very common quencher that absorbs in the range of 550–650 nm, 22 the effective quenching in 1 could be attributed to the large spectral overlap between the fluorescence band of the BODIPY core (see the fluorescence spectrum of 2 in Fig. S1b, ESI†) and the absorption of the BHQ-2 moiety, thereby facilitating the FRET process.…”

A new strategy: realization of organic heteroepitaxy and organic alloys based on the similarity of CC and NN

“…4b 1–4 ) exhibiting blue light. Due to the fluorescence quenching of AZO molecules, 21 even the doping level of AZO is quite low, and the fluorescence intensity of the crystal decreases a lot.…”

Tuning Energy Transfer in Metal‐Organic Frameworks for Fluorescence Turn‐on Sensing of Hg(II) Ions†

“…For a fixed system, the energy transfer largely depends on the spectral overlap of the emission and absorption spectra of the donor and acceptor, respectively. The modulation of their luminescence or absorption properties [ 47‐51 ] can efficiently tune the FRET process and thus turn‐on or turn off the luminescence of the system. In principle, facilitated by the tunability of the structural components in MOFs, the number of the donors around an acceptor in the framework can be freely modulated via the multivariate synthetic method.…”