AZDye 488 Picolyl Azide

AZDye™ 488 Picolyl Azide is an advanced fluorescent probe that incorporates a copper-chelating motif to raise the effective concentration of Cu(I) at the reaction site to boost the efficiency of the CuAAC reaction, resulting in a faster and more biocompatible CuAAC labeling. Up to 40-fold increase of signal intensity, compared to conventional azides, was reported (see Selected References).

In addition, the use picolyl azides instead of conventional azides allows for at least a tenfold reduction in the concentration of the copper catalyst without sacrificing the efficiency of labeling, significantly improving biocompatibility of CuAAC labeling protocol.

In summary, the introduction of a copper-chelating motif into azide probe leads to a substantial increase in the sensitivity and reduced cell toxicity of CuAAC detection alkyne-tagged biomolecules. This will be of special value for the detection of low abundance targets or living system imaging.

AZDye™ 488 is structurally identical to Alexa Fluor® 488. Its absorption/emission spectra is a perfect match to spectra of many other fluorescent dyes based on sulfonated rhodamine 110 core, including DyLight® 488, Alexa Fluor® 488, and CF® 488A.