Water-soluble fluorescent conjugated polymers and their interactions with biomacromolecules for sensitive biosensors

Abstract

Over the past decades, water-soluble conjugated polymers (CPs) have gained increasing attention as optical platforms for sensitive detection of biomacromolecules (DNA, protein and cell) due to the amplification of fluorescent signals. To meet the requirement for high throughput assays, chip and microarray techniques based on CPs have also been developed. Very recently, fluorescence imaging in vivo and at the cellular level have also been successfully accomplished using these water-soluble CPs. In this tutorial review, we provide a brief review of the synthesis and optical properties of CPs, focusing especially on their applications in biosensors and cell imaging.

Threading the Needle: Fluorescent Poly-pseudo-rotaxanes for Size-Exclusion Sensing

“…Though an identical threading efficiency was estimated for CB [6], Fig. S6d, it was not possible to estimate the coverage for CB [8]. due to the broad signals recorded.…”

“…S2), again consistent with a threading of the PPyV backbone by the cucurbituril. CB [8] showed poor solubility at concentrations required to measure NMR experiments and so dilute samples were used. Although the spectra provide limited resolution, we detect weak signals that experience broadening and upfield shifts supporting a threaded PPyV backbone (Fig.…”

“…Formic acid (>95%), 4-dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (DBSA) (≥95%), m-cresol (≥98%), sodium hydroxide (1 M), indole (≥99%) and n-methyl pyrrole (≥99%) were purchased from Sigma and were used as received. Cucurbit [5]uril, cucurbit [6]uril, cucurbit [7]uril and cucurbit [8]uril were purchased from Strem Chemicals, Inc. and were used without further purification. Deuterium oxide (D2O) and deuterated formic acid (d2-formic acid) was purchased from Cambridge Isotope Laboratories, Inc. and used as received.…”

“…To this end, we report the self-assembly of polypseudo-rotaxanes by threading of cucurbit[n]urils (CB [5]-CB [8]) onto the backbone of a cationic electron-poor conjugated polymer poly(pyridyl vinylene), PPyV (Fig. 1).…”

“…5,6 The innate ability of CPs to transport excitons over large distances offers great potential to amplify signals in fluorescent sensors, 7 with the majority of photoluminescence (PL) sensor platforms being electrondonating polymers for the detection of electronaccepting analytes. 5,6,[8][9][10][11] The alternative, or inverse situation utilizing electron-accepting (n-type) semiconducting polymers, is limited by few available materials. [12][13][14][15][16][17] However, despite the scarcity in reports with n-type CPs, this class of materials has been identified as being critical to applications including polymeric solar cells 18 and organic light-emitting diodes.…”