Guo Jun, Li Xiaofang, Lian Jiaqi, Gao Feng, Zhao Ruoyang, Song Bo, Zhang Feng
Terahertz Technology Innovation Research Institute, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Modern Optical Systems, Terahertz Science Cooperative Innovation Center, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 516 Jungong Road, Shanghai 200093, China.
Wenzhou Institute, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1 Jinlian Road, Wenzhou 325001, China.
ACS Macro Lett. 2021 Jul 20;10(7):825-830. doi: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.1c00251. Epub 2021 Jun 16.
Peptide-based fluorescent materials hold promise for applications in energy harvesting and biomedicine. One remaining challenge is to overcome the barrier of fluorescence red shift, especially for peptide probes merely made of natural amino acids. Here we demonstrated an about 100 nm fluorescence red shift using a tripeptide GYK. Under UV illumination or in Fenton reactions, the hydroxyl free radical-based oxidation crosslinks GYK tripeptides into dimers, which can further act as building blocks to hierarchically assemble into nanostructures of different sizes and finally can shift the fluorescence from blue to green color (∼510 nm). Such assemblies can form core-shell-like nanostructures through further crosslinking of their surface with additional GYK monomers, which can not only make the nanostructures more robust but also efficiently improve their quantum yields. This research will deepen our understanding of bioluminescence, which sheds light on various biomedical applications of peptide-based fluorescent probes.
基于肽的荧光材料在能量收集和生物医学应用方面具有广阔前景。一个尚存的挑战是克服荧光红移的障碍，特别是对于仅由天然氨基酸构成的肽探针而言。在此，我们利用三肽GYK实现了约100 nm的荧光红移。在紫外光照射或芬顿反应中，基于羟基自由基的氧化作用将GYK三肽交联成二聚体，这些二聚体可进一步作为构建单元，分层组装成不同尺寸的纳米结构，最终使荧光从蓝色转变为绿色（约510 nm）。此类组装体可通过其表面与额外的GYK单体进一步交联形成核壳状纳米结构，这不仅能使纳米结构更稳固，还能有效提高其量子产率。这项研究将加深我们对生物发光的理解，为基于肽的荧光探针的各种生物医学应用提供启示。
