Dye-Functionalized Phosphate-Binding Macrocycles: From Nucleotide To G-Quadruplex Recognition And "Turn-On" Fluorescence Sensing

A novel strategy to design "turn-on" fluorescent receptors for G-quadruplexes of DNA is presented, which relies on the connection of phosphate binding macrocycles (PBM) with naphthalimide dyes. A new PBM-dye family was synthesized and evaluated in terms of binding and detection of nucleotides and DNA G-quadruplexes of different topologies.