A cucurbit[8]uril-based supramolecular phosphorescent assembly: cell imaging and sensing of amino acids in aqueous solution

In recent years, host-guest interactions of macrocycles have emerged as a promising approach to effectively enhance pure organic room-temperature phosphorescence by inhibiting the nonradiative relaxation while isolating the effects of oxygen and water molecules. In this work, a supramolecular assembly Q[8]-BCPI was constructed by 6-bromoisoquinoline derivative (BCPI) and cucurbit[8]uril (Q[8]). The assembly produced intense green room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) emission and enabled supramolecular recognition and detection of L-tryptophan (L-Trp) and L-tyrosine (L-Tyr). Moreover, the Q[8]-BCPI assembly showed good biocompatibility and low biotoxicity, and had a good staining effect on HeLa cells.