Chiral, J-Aggregate-Forming Dyes for Alternative Signal Modulation Mechanisms in Self-Immolative Enzyme-Activatable Optical Probes

Enzyme-activatable optical probes are important for future advances in Cancer imaging, but may easily suffer from low signal-to-background ratios unless not optimized. To address this shortcoming, numerous mechanisms to modulate the fluorescence signal have been explored. We report herein newly synthesized probes based on self-immolative linkers containing chiral J-aggregate-forming dyes. Signal modulation by formation of chiral J-aggregates is yet unexplored in optical Enzyme probe design. The comprehensive characterization of the probes by absorption, CD, fluorescence, and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy revealed dye-dye interactions not observed for the free dyes in solution as well as dye-protein interactions with the Enzyme. This suggested that J-aggregate formation is challenging to achieve with current probe design and that interactions of the dyes with the Enzyme may interfere with achieving high signal-to-background ratios. The detailed understanding of the interactions provided herein provides valuable guidelines for the future design of similar probes.