This paper shows a new strategy for designing the photoactivatable fluorescent probes: Photoactivatable fluorescent probes are invaluable tools for the study of biological processes with high temporal and spatial resolution. It is reported that the fluorophore is generated in situ through an intramolecular tetrazole-alkene cycloaddition reaction (“photoclick chemistry”). It has been demonstrated that a protein-targeting core is linked to a photoactivatable, alkene-appended tetrazole as a new strategy for designing turn-on fluorescent probes.
I'm not sure I understand how this technology will be used. How is this better than a fluorophore that doesn't need to be activated?
ReplyDeletePhoto-click is a great concept: light activated covalent bond formation that generates a fluorophore. It should have tons of applications. However, as far as I know, nobody other than members of the Lin lab have ever published it.
ReplyDeleteI hate this paper. There really isn't anything new here. All they did was make the reaction intramolecular, and, as Christie asked, what's the point of that?
Maybe these photoactivatable fluorescent probes could be a good tool for protein target identification?
ReplyDeleteBut how does turning the fluorescent signal on (rather than having it on to begin with) benefit that?
ReplyDeleteIt was a pretty cool technique when it was intermolecular, but I still don't see the value in the intramolecular reaction.