Metabolic syndrome is associated with obesity, hypertension, and dyslipidemia, and increased cardiovascular risk. Therefore, quick and accurate measurements of specific metabolites are critical for diagnosis; however, detection methods are limited. Here we describe the synthesis of pillar[n]arenes to target 1-methylnicotinamide (1-MNA), which is one metabolite of vitamin B3 (nicotinamide) produced by the cancer-associated nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT). We found that water-soluble pillar[5]arene (P5A) forms host–guest complexes with both 1-MNA and nicotinamide, and water-soluble pillar[6]arene (P6A) selectively binds to 1-MNA at the micromolar level. P6A can be used as a “turn-off sensor” by photoinduced electron transfer (detection limit is 4.38 × 10⁻⁶ M). In our cell-free reaction, P6A is used to quantitatively monitor the activity of NNMT. Moreover, studies using NNMT-deficient mice reveal that P6A exclusively binds to 1-MNA in crude urinary samples. Our findings demonstrate that P6A can be used as a biosensor to quantify 1-MNA in crude biological samples.

代谢综合征与肥胖、高血压和血脂异常以及心血管风险增加有关。因此，快速准确地测量特定代谢物对于诊断至关重要；然而，检测方法是有限的。在这里，我们描述了柱 [n] 芳烃的合成以靶向 1-甲基烟酰胺 (1-MNA)，它是由癌症相关的烟酰胺N-甲基转移酶 (NNMT) 产生的维生素 B3（烟酰胺）的一种代谢物。我们发现水溶性柱 [5] 芳烃 (P5A) 与 1-MNA 和烟酰胺形成主客体复合物，水溶性柱 [6] 芳烃 (P6A) 在微摩尔水平选择性地与 1-MNA 结合。P6A 可作为光生电子转移的“关断传感器”（检测限为 4.38 × 10 ^-6 米）。在我们的无细胞反应中，P6A 用于定量监测 NNMT 的活性。此外，使用 NNMT 缺陷小鼠的研究表明，P6A 仅与粗尿样中的 1-MNA 结合。我们的研究结果表明 P6A 可以用作生物传感器来量化粗生物样品中的 1-MNA。