Structural development of canthin-5,6-dione moiety as a fluorescent dye and its application to novel fluorescent sensors

Canthin-5,6-dione is a common structure of the fluorescent natural products amarastelline A and nigakinone. Here, we synthesized various derivatives, and studied their fluorescence properties. The effects of substituent groups at the N 3 -, 4- and 10-positions were clarified. N 3 -Substitution influenced the solvent-dependent fluorescent change by modulating tautomerization between canthin-5,6-dione and the 5-hydroxy-6-one form. 10-Substitution also influenced the fluorescence, especially in aqueous solution, in combination with N 3 -substitution. Among the synthesized compounds, 5 showed an ‘OFF-ON-OFF’-type fluorescence change with increase of pH, and therefore served as a novel fluorescent sensor for a specific range of pH. Our findings suggest that canthin-5,6-dione should be useful as a fluorophore moiety for fluorescent labeling of biomolecules and for development of fluorescent probes and sensors.