Design and Synthesis of Fluorescent Amino Acids: Novel Tools for Biological Imaging

该项目旨在开发具有明确定义特性的新型荧光氨基酸，可作为分子和细胞生物学应用的成像探针。几类新的N-杂环衍生的氨基酸将使用金属催化的成键反应和环加成过程制备。具有强荧光、高量子产率和有趣的溶致变色性质的各类氨基酸的先导化合物将作为生物成像的探针被进一步研究。这些将使用固相肽合成掺入短的细胞穿透肽中，与各种细胞系一起孵育，并使用共聚焦荧光显微镜进行分析。

This project aims to develop novel fluorescent amino acids with clearly defined properties that can act as imaging probes for molecular and cellular biological applications. Several classes of novel N-heterocycle-derived amino acids will be prepared using metal-catalysed bond forming reactions and cycloaddition processes. Lead compounds from each class of amino acid that show strong fluorescence, high quantum yields and interesting solvatochromatic properties will be further investigated as probes for biological imaging. These will be incorporated into short cell-penetrating peptides using solid phase peptide synthesis, incubated with various cell lines and analysed using confocal fluorescent microscopy.