A fluorogenic dye activated by the staudinger ligation.

Specific labeling of biomolecules with biochemical and biophysical probes is a central element of proteomics research. Here we describe a coumarin-phosphine dye that undergoes activation of coumarin fluorescence upon Staudinger ligation with azides. Since azides can be metabolically incorporated into cellular proteins and oligosaccharides, this dye may be a useful tool for profiling proteins and their posttranslational modifications.