Designed To Dissolve: Suppression of Colloidal Aggregation of Cu(I)-Selective Fluorescent Probes in Aqueous Buffer and In-Gel Detection of a Metallochaperone

Due to the lipophilicity of the metal-ion receptor, previously reported Cu(I)-selective fluorescent probes form colloidal aggregates, as revealed by dynamic light scattering. To address this problem, we have developed a hydrophilic triarylpyrazoline-based fluorescent probe, CTAP-2, that dissolves directly in water and shows a rapid, reversible, and highly selective 65-fold fluorescence turn-on response to Cu(I) in aqueous solution. CTAP-2 proved to be sufficiently sensitive for direct in-gel detection of Cu(I) bound to the metallochaperone Atoxl, demonstrating the potential for cation-selective fluorescent probes to serve as tools in metalloproteomics for identifying proteins with readily accessible metal-binding sites.