Specific detection or imaging protein has high potential to contribute greatly to medical diagnosis, biological research, and therapeutic applications. The level of human serum albumin (HSA) in blood is related to a variety of diseases and thus serves as an important biomarker for fast clinical diagnosis. Here we report the use of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) based supramolecular assembly to design biomolecular responsive smart organic nanomaterials for detection protein HSA. The designed nanoprobes were aggregates of small molecules and silent in fluorescence, but in the presence of HSA they disassembled and produced a clear turn-on fluorescent signal. Of a small library of nanoprobes constructed for HSA detection, structure-optical signaling and screening studies revealed that nanoprobe 7 is the most efficient one. Mechanism studies showed that nanoprobe 7 was bonded with Site I of HSA through the multiple noncovalent interactions. The resultant restriction of intramolecular rotation of nanoprobe 7 in the hydrophobic cavity of HSA induced fluorescent emission, which was validated by competitive binding assays and molecular docking. More importantly, nanoprobe 7 was successfully applied to recognize and quantify HSA in human serum samples. This study demonstrates nanoprobe 7 is a promising tool for clinical real and fast detection of HSA and thus may find many applications, and the molecular assembly based on AIE also opens a new avenue for designing smart nanomaterials for the sensitive and selective detection for varied analytes.

中文翻译：

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用于蛋白质特异性检测的智能自组装有机纳米探针：设计，合成，应用和机理研究

特异性检测或成像蛋白具有很大的潜力，可以极大地促进医学诊断，生物学研究和治疗应用。血液中人血清白蛋白（HSA）的水平与多种疾病有关，因此可作为快速临床诊断的重要生物标志物。在这里，我们报告使用基于聚集诱导发射（AIE）的超分子组装来设计用于检测蛋白质HSA的生物分子响应性智能有机纳米材料。设计的纳米探针是小分子的聚集体，没有荧光，但是在存在HSA的情况下，它们会分解并产生清晰的开启荧光信号。在一个用于HSA检测的小型纳米探针文库中，结构光学信号和筛选研究表明，纳米探针7是最有效的一种。机理研究表明，纳米探针7通过多种非共价相互作用与HSA的位点I结合。HSA疏水腔中纳米探针7分子内旋转的最终限制诱导了荧光发射，这已通过竞争性结合测定和分子对接得到验证。更重要的是，纳米探针7已成功应用于识别和定量人类血清样品中的HSA。这项研究证明了nanoprobe 7 它是临床上真正，快速检测HSA的有前途的工具，因此可能会找到许多应用，基于AIE的分子组装也为设计用于敏感和选择性检测各种分析物的智能纳米材料开辟了一条新途径。