A Noncovalent Fluorescence Turn‐on Strategy for Hypoxia Imaging

Hypoxia plays crucial roles in many diseases and is a central target for them. Present hypoxia imaging is restricted to the covalent approach which needs tedious synthesis. In this work, we proposed a new supramolecular host‐guest approach based on the complexation of a hypoxia‐responsive macrocycle with a commercial dye. To exemplify the strategy, we designed a carboxyl‐modified azocalix[4]arene (CAC4A) for binding to rhodamine 123 (Rho123) and quenching its fluorescence. The azo groups of CAC4A were reduced selectively under hypoxic condition, leading to the release of Rho123 with the fluorescence regenerated. The noncovalent strategy was validated through hypoxia imaging in living cells treated with the CAC4A•Rho123 reporter pair.

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