The 3-hydroxyflavone (3-HF) is one of the common fluorescence probes. It has two distinct fluorescence bands: normal form and tautomer form. However, 3-hydroxyflavone has poor performance in water because of hydrogen bonding perturbation. The utilization of supramolecular chemistry would improve the fluorescence performance of 3-hydroxyflavone in water. In this paper, it reviews supramolecular chemistry of 3-hydroxyflavone with cyclodextrin and octa acid. Past research has found that the addition of β-cyclodextrin to 3-hydroxyflavone in water would slightly improve the fluorescence intensity of the tautomer form. When adding γ-cyclodextrin to 3-hydroxyflavone in water, the green fluorescence intensity would be enhanced. Finally, the addition of octa acid creates a dry environment for the 3-hydroxyflavone, and it would only have a tautomer form. The ONIOM calculation shows the ways of self-assembly of β- and γ-cyclodextrin. It can explain the difference in ratio between the tautomer form and normal form after understanding the interaction.
Keywords: 3-hydroxyflavone; cyclodextrin; octa acid.