文摘
Monoamine oxidase (MAO) A is a flavoenzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of biologically important monoamines and is thought to be associated with psychiatric disorders. Here, we report a strategy for rationally designing a 19F magnetic resonance imaging probe for the specific detection of human MAO-A (hMAO-A) activity. Our designed 19F probe was oxidized expeditiously by hMAO-A to produce 2-fluoro-4-nitrophenol via a spontaneous 尾-elimination mechanism. Concomitant with the structural change of the probe to the product, the 19F chemical shift changed by 4.2 ppm, which was enough to visualize the probe and enzymatic product separately. Importantly, our probe achieved excellent discrimination of hMAO-A from its isoform hMAO-B.