Cucurbit[ n]uril-based fluorescent indicator-displacement assays for sensing organic compounds

Qunpeng Duan; Ran Chen; Su Deng; Cheng Yang; Xinxin Ji; Gege Qi; Hui Li; Xiaohan Li; Shihao Chen; Mengen Lou; Kui Lu

doi:10.3389/fchem.2023.1124705

Cucurbit[ n]uril-based fluorescent indicator-displacement assays for sensing organic compounds

Front Chem. 2023 Jan 13:11:1124705. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2023.1124705. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Qunpeng Duan¹, Ran Chen¹, Su Deng¹, Cheng Yang¹, Xinxin Ji¹, Gege Qi¹, Hui Li¹, Xiaohan Li¹, Shihao Chen¹, Mengen Lou¹, Kui Lu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemical and Printing-Dyeing Engineering, Henan University of Engineering, Zhengzhou, China.
² School of Chemical Engineering and Food Science, Zhengzhou Institute of Technology, Zhengzhou, China.

Abstract

The widespread conversion of synthetic receptors into luminescent sensors has been achieved via the use of fluorescent-indicator displacement assays (F-IDAs). Due to their rigid structures and efficient binding affinities, cucurbit[n]urils, combined with a variety of fluorescent guests, have gained extensive utilization in fluorescent-indicator displacement assays for sensing non-fluorescent or weakly fluorescent organic compounds (analytes) in a selective and specific manner. This mini-review summarizes recent advances in the design of cucurbit[n]uril-based fluorescent-indicator displacement assays and discusses the current challenges and future prospects in this area.

Keywords: cucurbit[n]urils; fluorescence; host-guest complex; indicator displacement assay; organic compounds.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Henan Province Science and Technology Research Program (No. 222102320067).