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Updated: May 9, 2026
Spatiotemporally Controlled Nuclear Translocation of Guests in Living Cells Using Caged Molecular Glues as Photoactivatable Tags
Published on: January 17, 2019
Reversible control over molecular recognition in surface-bound photoswitchable hydrogen-bonding receptors: towards
Chih-Kai Liang1, Galina V Dubacheva, Thierry Buffeteau
1Institut des Sciences Moléculaires CNRS UMR5255, Univ. Bordeaux 1, 351, Cours de la Libération, 33400 Talence (France), Fax: (+33) 5-4000-6158.
Abstract:
The synthesis of an anthracene-bearing photoactive barbituric acid receptor and its subsequent grafting onto azide-terminated alkanethiol/Au self-assembled monolayers by using an Cu(I) -catalyzed azide-alkyne reaction is reported. Monolayer characterization using contact-angle measurements, electrochemistry, and spectroscopic ellipsometry indicate that the monolayer conversion is fast and complete. Irradiation of the receptor leads to photodimerization of the anthracenes, which induces the open-to-closed gating of the receptor by blocking access to the binding site. The process is thermally reversible, and polarization-modulated IR reflection-absorption spectroscopy indicates that photochemical closure and thermal opening of the surface-bound receptors occur in 70 and 100 % conversion, respectively. Affinity of the open and closed surface-bound receptor was characterized by using force spectroscopy with a barbituric-acid-modified atomic force microscope tip.
