Patent ID: 7883903

Claim:
A kit for conducting an assay to determine the presence or concentration of an analyte in a sample, wherein the kit comprises: a dendrimer comprising at least one enzymatically active chemiluminescent substrate moiety, wherein the substrate moiety comprises a dioxetane having an enzyme labile group; and an enzyme capable of cleaving the enzyme labile group of the dioxetane to produce a peroxygenated intermediate that decomposes to produce light; wherein the dendrimer comprising at least one enzymatically active chemiluminescent substrate moiety is represented by the formula selected from the group consisting of wherein “Linker” represents a linker moiety; “Dendrimer” represents a dendrimer moiety resulting from the reaction of a surface functional group on the dendrimer with a functional group on the linker moiety, wherein said dendrimer moiety comprises a chemiluminescent enhancement substance selected from the group consisting of water soluble polymeric quaternary ammonium salts, water soluble polymeric quaternary phosphonium salts, water soluble polymeric quaternary sulfonium salts, and mixtures thereof; N is a positive integer representing the number of chemiluminescent substrates conjugated to the dendrimer moiety; Y is H, a hydroxyl group, a halogen, an unsubstituted alkyl group, a hydroxy substituted alkyl group, a halogen substituted alkyl group, a phenyl group, a halogenated phenyl group, an alkoxy substituted phenyl group, an alkoxy phenoxy group, a hydroxy alkoxy group, a cyano group, an amide group, an alkoxy group or a carboxyl group; R is a C 1 -C 12 alkyl, mono-, di-, or trihaloalkyl, an aryl or an aralkyl; X is an enzyme-labile group selected from the group consisting of a phosphate, galactoside, acetate, 1-phospho-2,3-diacylglyceride, 1-thio-D-glucoside, adenosine triphosphate, adenosine diphosphate, adenosine monophosphate, adenosine, α-D-glucoside, β-D-glucoside, β-D-glucuronide, β-D-mannoside, β-D-mannoside, β-D-fructofuranoside, β-glucosiduronate, 5-acetamido-3,5-dideoxy-α-D-glycero-D-galacto-2-nonulopyranoside, alkoxy derivatives of 5-acetamido-3,5-dideoxy-α-D-glycero-D-galacto-2-nonulopyranoside, p-toluenesulfonyl-L-arginine ester, and p-toluenesulfonyl-L-arginine amide; Z is a halo, alkoxy or alkyl group; and T is H, an electron donating group, an electron withdrawing group, or an organic linker group which may be attached to an ancillary fluorophore or to a biological moiety.