Diol Appended Quenchers for Fluorescein Boronic Acid

Fluorescein isothiocyanate is treated with 3-aminophenylboronic acid to provide a fluorescently tagged boronic acid derivative which is used to assess Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) quenching upon boronate ester formation with a series of bespoke diol appended quenchers. Fluorescence spectroscopy comparison of quenching efficiency between treatment of fluorescein and its boronic acid appended congener with quencher appended diol reveals boronate ester formation (covalently linked) to be the more efficient regime and from the panel of quenchers which also included nucleosides.