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Tide Quencher™ Dyes, Optimized FRET Acceptors
Although DABCYL has been used to develop a variety of FRET applications, its low quenching efficiency of longer wavelength dyes (such as fluoresceins, rhodamines and cyanines) has limited its use in the development of sensitive fluorogenic FRET probes. Additionally, the absorption spectrum of DABCYL is environment sensitive. AAT Bioquest has developed the robust Tide Quencher™ acceptor dyes for the development of longer wavelength FRET probes. These Tide Quencher™ dark FRET acceptors (such as TQ1, TQ2, TQ3, TQ4, TQ5, TQ6 and TQ7) are optimized to pair with our Tide Fluor™ dyes and the classic fluorophores (such as AMCA, EDANS, FAM, TAMRA, HEX, JOE, TET, ROX, Cy3®, Cy5® and Cy7®). Like our Tide Fluor™ donor dyes, our Tide Quencher™ acceptor dyes are much more cost-effective with comparable or even better performance for your desired biological applications than other similar products on the market.
Fig. 1
The normalized absorption spectra of TQ1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.
The normalized absorption spectra of TQ1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.
Fig. 2
The internally quenched FRET peptide substrate is digested by a protease to generate the highly fluorescent peptide fragment.
The internally quenched FRET peptide substrate is digested by a protease to generate the highly fluorescent peptide fragment. The fluorescence increase is proportional to the protease activity.
Besides the broad applications in the development of Molecular Beacon probes, our Tide Quencher™ dyes have also been used to develop various protease substrates such as HIV protease, MMPs and secretases. In some cases, they have demonstrated greatly improved enzyme performance. This may be partly due to the redshifted absorption spectrum that overlaps better with the emission spectra of fluoresceins, rhodamines and cyanines. Tide Quencher™ dyes are a great choice for you to eliminate the limitations of classic quenchers. As excellent dark quenchers, Tide Quencher™ dyes are individually optimized to pair with all the popular fluorescent dyes such as fluoresceins, rhodamines and cyanines. Our Tide Quencher™ series of nonfluorescent dyes cover the full visible spectrum with unusually high efficiency. Among them, TQ2 has absorption maximum perfectly matching the emission of FAM while TQ3, TQ5 and TQ7 are proven to be the best quenchers for Cy3®, Cy5® and Cy7®.
Fig. 3
HIV protease cleavage of Arg-Glu(5-FAM)-Val-Ser-Phe-Asn-Phe-Pro-Gln-Ile-Thr-Lys(TQ2)-Arg.
HIV protease cleavage of Arg-Glu(5-FAM)-Val-Ser-Phe-Asn-Phe-Pro-Gln-Ile-Thr-Lys(TQ2)-Arg. The substrate was incubated with HIV protease. Upon HIV protease cleavage, the fluorescence of 5-FAM was recovered and monitored at Ex/Em = 490 /520 nm.
The Advantages of Tide Quencher™ Dyes
  • TQ dyes enable you to explore the FRET potentials that might be impossible with other quenchers.
  • Versatile reactive forms are convenient for self-constructing your desired FRET biomolecules.
  • Perfectly match your desired fluorescent donors.
  • Competitive price with better performance.
Fig. 4
Dye Selection Guide for Preparing FRET Oligonucleotides and Peptides.
Dye Selection Guide for Preparing FRET Oligonucleotides and Peptides.
Document: 03.0054.140501r1
Last updated Thu Oct 02 2025
Tide Quencher™ Dyes, Optimized FRET Acceptors
The Advantages of Tide Quencher™ Dyes