Abstract:
Sialic acid (SA) is an acidic monosaccharide present in the
human brain and body fluids in the form of N-acetylneuraminic acid. It is
also a well-known cancer biomarker. For decades, it has remained a
challenging task to design synthetic receptors for SA. However, mainly
because of the interference from other sugars with the receptors, it was
challenging to differentiate SA from other sugars. Here, we report the
development of a two-component aggregation-induced emissive (AIE)
probes that can interact with SA and other saccharides via noncovalent
interactions with unique emission fingerprints. Analysis of the output signals
enabled the reliable detection and clear discrimination of SA in the presence
of other saccharides with high accuracy. Further, its potential application in
cellular glycan mapping has been explored by fluorescence imaging and
surface-enhanced Raman scattering with MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells.
