Design and Evaluation, of a Peptidyl Fluorescent Chemesensor For Divalent Zinc

摘要

The rapid analysis of trace metal cations for environmental and biomedicai applications is particularly demanding since it requires the specific recognition of a particular element in the presence of numerous closely related species. While remarkableprogress has been achieved for inorganic analytes, such as Ca~(2+), there is still a significant need for the genesis of new fiuorosen-sors. In light of the selectivity and avidity with which proteins bind divalent metal cations, we have chosen to use apolypep-tide architecture as the framework for metal ion recognition. In addition, our ability to manipulate synthetic polypeptides allows the coordinated integration of fluorescent reporters for signal transduction within a metal-binding peptidyl construct. Herein we report the design, synthesis, and evaluation of a selective fluorescent chemosensor, sensitive to nanomolar concentrations of Zn~(2+).