Molecular probe for enzymatic activity with dual output Original Research Article

A novel molecular probe for enzymatic activity with a dual output detection-mode has been developed. The probe effectively detected the presence of the bacterial protease penicillin-G–amidase; a single cleavage by the enzyme initiated the fragmentation of a self-immolative dendritic platform to release two reporter units. The signals of the free reporters were detected by two different spectroscopic techniques, fluorescence and UV–vis. This is the first reported molecular probe with two different chromogenic reporter units activated by a specific stimulus.