A split G-quadruplex-specific dinuclear Ir(III) complex for label-free luminescent detection of transcription factor

Menghan Zang; Huijuan Su; Lihua Lu; Feng Li

doi:10.1016/j.talanta.2019.05.021

A split G-quadruplex-specific dinuclear Ir(III) complex for label-free luminescent detection of transcription factor

Talanta. 2019 Sep 1:202:259-266. doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2019.05.021. Epub 2019 May 4.

Authors

Menghan Zang¹, Huijuan Su¹, Lihua Lu², Feng Li³

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao 266109, PR China.
² College of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao 266109, PR China. Electronic address: lulihua2012@qau.edu.cn.
³ College of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao 266109, PR China. Electronic address: lifeng@qau.edu.cn.

PMID: 31171179
DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2019.05.021

Abstract

A group of luminescent dinuclear Ir(III) complexes were synthesized to study the application possibility as luminescent G-quadruplex (G4) sensors. According to the results, the dinuclear Ir(III) complexes 1-5 were assessed as selective G4 sensors. Among them, complex 5 not only demonstrates the highest specificity towards G4, but also shows linearly enhanced luminescent intensity with the increase of split G4 concentration. Complex 5 was thus utilized to establish a label-free split G4-based detection platform for luminescent detection of transcription factor (TF). This luminescent assay is simple and sensitive with the detection limit of 0.027 nM for NF-κB p50 in aqueous solution. The split G4-based TF sensing platform also worked well in diluted human serum, demonstrating high application potential for biological sample analysis.

Keywords: Dinuclear Ir(III) complex; Luminescence; Split G-quadruplex; Transcription factor.