Cyanine dyes have been widely applied in various biological systems owing to their specific photochemical properties. Assembly and disassembly process of cyanine dyes were constructed and regulated by special biomolecules. In this paper, dimeric cyanine dyes with different repeat units (oligo-oxyethylene) in linker (TC-Pn) (n = 3–6) were found to form H-aggregates or mixture aggregates in PBS. These aggregates could be disassembled into dimer and/or monomer by (TGnT) tetramolecular G-quadruplexes (n = 3–6, 8), which were affected by the linker length of dimeric cyanine dyes and layers of G-quartets. The 1H-NMR titration results suggest that the binding mode of dimeric cyanine dye with TGnT might be on both ends—stacking like a clip. This binding mode could clearly explain that matching structures between dimeric cyanine dyes and TGnT quadruplexes could regulate the disassembly properties of aggregates. These results could provide clues for the development of highly specific G-quadruplex probes.
Verification of specific G-quadruplex structure by using a novel cyanine dye supramolecular assembly: II. The binding characterization with specific intramolecular G-quadruplex and the recognizing mechanism