State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites and Beijing Key Lab of Bioprocess, Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT), Beijing 100029, China.
Department of Chemistry and Center of Super-Diamond and Advanced Films (COSDAF), City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
Chem Soc Rev. 2021 Jul 5;50(13):7436-7495. doi: 10.1039/d0cs01096k.
Compounds with a nitrobenzoxadiazole (NBD) skeleton exhibit prominent useful properties including environmental sensitivity, high reactivity toward amines and biothiols (including H2S) accompanied by distinct colorimetric and fluorescent changes, fluorescence-quenching ability, and small size, all of which facilitate biomolecular sensing and self-assembly. Amines are important biological nucleophiles, and the unique activity of NBD ethers with amines has allowed for site-specific protein labelling and for the detection of enzyme activities. Both H2S and biothiols are involved in a wide range of physiological processes in mammals, and misregulation of these small molecules is associated with numerous diseases including cancers. In this review, we focus on NBD-based synthetic probes as advanced chemical tools for biomolecular sensing. Specifically, we discuss the sensing mechanisms and selectivity of the probes, the design strategies for multi-reactable multi-quenching probes, and the associated biological applications of these important constructs. We also highlight self-assembled NBD-based probes and outline future directions for NBD-based chemosensors. We hope that this comprehensive review will facilitate the development of future probes for investigating and understanding different biological processes and aid the development of potential theranostic agents.
具有硝苯并二氮杂（NBD）骨架的化合物表现出显著的有用性质，包括环境敏感性、对胺和生物硫醇（包括 H2S）的高反应性，伴随着明显的比色和荧光变化、荧光猝灭能力和小尺寸，所有这些都有助于生物分子传感和自组装。胺是重要的生物亲核试剂，NBD 醚与胺的独特活性允许进行位点特异性蛋白质标记，并用于检测酶活性。H2S 和生物硫醇都参与哺乳动物中广泛的生理过程，这些小分子的失调与包括癌症在内的许多疾病有关。在这篇综述中，我们专注于基于 NBD 的合成探针作为生物分子传感的先进化学工具。具体来说，我们讨论了探针的传感机制和选择性、多反应性多猝灭探针的设计策略以及这些重要结构的相关生物学应用。我们还强调了自组装的 NBD 探针，并概述了基于 NBD 的化学传感器的未来方向。我们希望这篇全面的综述将有助于开发用于研究和理解不同生物学过程的未来探针，并有助于开发潜在的治疗诊断剂。
