Protein recognition by bivalent, ‘turn-on’ fluorescent molecular probes† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c5sc01038a Click here for additional data file.

We show that the conversion of a known intercalating dye (i.e., thiazole orange) into a bivalent protein binder could lead to the realization of a novel class of 'turn-on' fluorescent molecular probes that detect proteins with high affinity, selectivity, and a high signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated with monomolecular probes that light-up in the presence of three different proteins: acetylcholinesterase (AChE), glutathione-s-transferase (GST), or avidin (Av) at low concentrations and with minimal background signal. The way by which such probes can be used to detect individual protein isoforms and be applied in inhibitor screening, cell imaging, and biomarker detection is described.