10.1021/ja308629w.s001 Nathaniel I. Shank Nathaniel I. Shank Ha H. Pham Ha H. Pham Alan S. Waggoner Alan S. Waggoner Bruce A. Armitage Bruce A. Armitage Twisted Cyanines: A Non-Planar Fluorogenic Dye with Superior Photostability and its Use in a Protein-Based Fluoromodule American Chemical Society 2013 Twisted Cyanines protein binding partners fluorogenic stain methine hydrogen fluorogenic dye activates fluorescence RNA cyano group nonplanar conformations parent dye DNA HeLa cell culture singlet oxygen fluorogenic behavior fluorescence activation Superior Photostability cationic dyes background fluorescence 2013-01-09 00:00:00 Journal contribution https://acs.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Twisted_Cyanines_A_Non_Planar_Fluorogenic_Dye_with_Superior_Photostability_and_its_Use_in_a_Protein_Based_Fluoromodule/2453749 The cyanine dye thiazole orange (TO) is a well-known fluorogenic stain for DNA and RNA, but this property precludes its use as an intracellular fluorescent probe for non-nucleic acid biomolecules. Further, as is the case with many cyanines, the dye suffers from low photostability. Here, we report the synthesis of a bridge-substituted version of TO named α-CN-TO, where the central methine hydrogen of TO is replaced by an electron withdrawing cyano group, which was expected to decrease the susceptibility of the dye toward singlet oxygen-mediated degradation. An X-ray crystal structure shows that α-CN-TO is twisted drastically out of plane, in contrast to TO, which crystallizes in the planar conformation. α-CN-TO retains the fluorogenic behavior of the parent dye TO in viscous glycerol/water solvent, but direct irradiation and indirect bleaching studies showed that α-CN-TO is essentially inert to visible light and singlet oxygen. In addition, the twisted conformation of α-CN-TO mitigates nonspecific binding and fluorescence activation by DNA and a previously selected TO-binding protein and exhibits low background fluorescence in HeLa cell culture. α-CN-TO was then used to select a new protein that binds and activates fluorescence from the dye. The new α-CN-TO/protein fluoromodule exhibits superior photostability to an analogous TO/protein fluoromodule. These properties indicate that α-CN-TO will be a useful fluorogenic dye in combination with specific RNA and protein binding partners for both in vitro and cell-based applications. More broadly, structural features that promote nonplanar conformations can provide an effective method for reducing nonspecific binding of cationic dyes to nucleic acids and other biomolecules.