A novel dinuclear iridium(III) complex as a G-quadruplex-selective probe for the luminescent switch-on detection of transcription factor HIF-1α

A novel dinuclear Ir(III) complex 5 was discovered to be specific to G-quadruplex DNA, and was utilized in a label-free G-quadruplex-based detection platform for transcription factor activity. The principle of this assay was demonstrated by using HIF-1α as a model protein. Moreover, this HIF-1α detection assay exhibited potential use for biological sample analysis.