Investigating fluorescent dyes in fluorescence-assisted screeningsElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Detailed experimental section, additional results, SPR data and peptide sequences. See DOI: 10.1039/c4cc07008a

Screening of bead-based peptide libraries against fluorescent dye-labeled target proteins was found to be significantly influenced by the dye characteristics. Commercially available red fluorescent dyes with net negative charges adversely showed strong interactions with library beads. The introduction of zwitterionic dyes significantly reduced the unwanted interactions, which sheds light upon using the right fluorescent probe for acquisition of reliable results in various fluorescence-assisted applications. Screening of bead-based peptide libraries against fluorescent dye-labeled target proteins was found to be significantly influenced by the dye characteristics.