Aza-macrocyclic triphenylamine ligands for G-quadruplex recognition

A new series of triphenylamine-based ligands with one (TPA1PY), two (TPA2PY) or three pendant aza-macrocycle(s) (TPA3PY) has been synthesised and studied by means of pH-metric titrations, UV/Vis spectroscopy and fluorescence experiments. The affinity of these ligands for G-quadruplex (G4) DNA and the selectivity they show for G4s over duplex DNA were investigated by Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) melting assays, fluorimetric titrations and circular dichroism spectroscopy. Interestingly, the interactions of the bi- and especially the tri-branched ligands with G4s lead to a very intense redshifted fluorescence emission band that may be associated with intermolecular aggregation betw…