Rational design of water-soluble mitochondrial-targeting near-infrared fluorescent probes with large Stokes shift for distinguishing cancerous cells and bioimaging

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2023 Oct 15:299:122869. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2023.122869. Epub 2023 May 16.

Abstract

In the paper, two new near-infrared fluorescent probes (TTHPs) with D-π-A structure were successfully synthesized. TTHPs exhibited polarity and viscosity sensitivity and mitochondrial targeting under physiological conditions. The emission spectra of TTHPs showed strong polarity/viscosity dependence with more than a large Stokes shift of 200 nm. Based on their unique merits, TTHPs were used to distinguish cancerous and normal cells, which could be new tools for cancer diagnosis. Moreover, TTHPs were the first to achieve biological imaging of Caenorhabditis elegans, which could be labeling probes to apply in multicellular organisms.

Keywords: Bioimaging; Distinguish cancerous and normal cells; Mitochondrial-targeting; NIR-fluorescent probe; Polarity and viscosity sensitivity.

MeSH terms

  • Fluorescent Dyes* / chemistry
  • HeLa Cells
  • Humans
  • Mitochondria
  • Optical Imaging / methods
  • Water*

Substances

  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Water