title: Design of NIR Chromenylium-Cyanine Fluorophore Library for "Switch-ON" and Ratiometric Detection of Bio-Active Species In Vivo.
abstract: The real-time monitoring of key biospecies in the living systems has received thrusting attention during the past decades. Specifically, fluorescent detection based on near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probes is highly favorable for live cells, live tissues, and even animal imaging, owing to the substantial merits of the NIR window, such as minimal phototoxicity, deep penetration into tissues, and low autofluorescence background. Nevertheless, developing potent NIR fluorescent probes still poses serious challenges to the chemists because traditional NIR fluorophores are less tunable than visible-wavelength fluorophores. To address this issue, here we report a set of novel NIR hybrid fluorophores, namely, the hybrid chromenylium-cyanine fluorophore (CC-Fluor), in which both the fluorescence intensity and the emission wavelength can be easily adjusted by the conformational changes and substitution groups. Compared to known NIR fluorophores, the new CC-Fluors are substantially advantageous for NIR probe development: (1) CC-Fluors display tunable and moderate Stokes shifts and quantum yields; (2) the fluorophores are stable at physiological conditions after long-term incubation; (3) the absorption maxima of CC-Fluors coincide with the common laser spectral lines in mainstream in vivo imaging systems; (4) most importantly, CC-Fluors can be easily modified to prepare NIR probes targeting various biospecies. To fully demonstrate the practical utility of CC-Fluors, we report two innovative NIR probes, a ratiometric pH probe and a turn-on Hg(2+) probe, both are successfully employed in live animal imaging. Hence, the detailed studies allow us to confirm that CC-Fluors can work as an excellent platform for developing NIR probes for the detection of species in living systems.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University , Changsha 410082, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yanfen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University , Changsha 410082, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University , Changsha 410082, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Tianbing
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University , Changsha 410082, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yinhui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University , Changsha 410082, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zebing
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University , Changsha 410082, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yuan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001565:Benzoates / Q000737:chemistry*; D002232:Carbocyanines / Q000737:chemistry*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D007259:Infrared Rays; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D015394:Molecular Structure; D054852:Small Molecule Libraries / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared; D014966:Xanthenes / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D001565:Benzoates; D002232:Carbocyanines; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D054852:Small Molecule Libraries; D014966:Xanthenes; D008628:Mercury