Supramolecular assembly of novel green fluorescent protein chromophore-based analogue and its application in fluorescence anti-counterfeiting

Abstract

Supramolecular fluorescent materials with switchable behavior and induced luminescence enhancement are a new kind of special materials for constructing fluorescence anti-counterfeiting materials. Since materials are constructed by self-assembly through supramolecular host-guest interaction of non-covalent bonds, such fluorescent materials can regulate their optical properties through a reversible assembly-disassembly process. Inspired by the β-barrel scaffold in activating the strong fluorescence of green fluorescent protein (GFP) chromophore, we designed a supramolecular system based on a novel GFP analogue (CA) and cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]). CA molecules are encapsulated by CB[7] to form the 1:2 host-guest assembly, thereby the fluorescence brightness of CA can be tuned. The reversible regulation of fluorescence intensity was additionally realized by controlling the dynamic assemble-disassemble process in the presence of higher binding competitor amantadine hydrochloride. The CA-CB[7] system was successfully used for information display and clean through the reversible fluorescence readout on A4 paper, which enables the GFP chromophore analogues and cucurbiturils system become a potential in constructing the intelligent information encryption and anti-counterfeiting materials.