Precision Molecular Engineering of Compact Near-Infrared Fluorophores
Organic fluorophores with near-infrared (NIR) emission and reduced molecular size are crucial for advancing bioimaging and biosensing technologies. Traditional methods, such as conjugation expansion and heteroatom engineering, often fail to reduce fluorophore size without sacrificing NIR emission properties. Addressing this challenge, our study utilized quantum chemical calculations and structure-property relationship analysis to establish an iterative design approach and enable precision engineering for compact, single-benzene-based NIR fluorophores. These newly developed fluorophores exhibit emissions up to 759 nm and maintain molecular weights as low as 192 g/mol, approximately 50% of that of Cy7. Additionally, they display unique environmental sensitivity─nonemissive in aqueous solutions but highly emissive in lipid environments. This property significantly enhances their utility in wash-free imaging of live cells. Our findings mark a substantial breakthrough in fluorophore engineering, paving the way for more efficient and adaptable imaging methodologies.
Authors
- Deborah Seah (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-0289-3669)
- Weijie Chi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1776-0025)
- Tianruo Shen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5417-0783)
- Yu Fang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8490-8080)
- Fabio De Moliner
- Marc Vendrell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5392-9740)
- Xiaogang Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2553-2068)
- Nannan Ding
- Qinglong Qiao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2365-5697)
- Huaming Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7133-1948)
- Rongrong Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7341-6953)
- Zhaochao Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2491-8938)
- Chao Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4981-9335)
- Xia Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2761-9976)
Institutions
- Singapore University of Technology and Design (SG)
- Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Hainan University (CN)
- Centre for Inflammation Research (GB)
- Shaanxi Normal University (CN)
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of the American Chemical Society
- Published
- 2025-02-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c16087
- Citations
- 19
- Primary Topic
- Luminescence and Fluorescent Materials
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 9.84
Funders
- Ministry of Education - Singapore
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Shaanxi Normal University
- Ministry of Education, India
- Singapore University of Technology and Design
- Higher Education Discipline Innovation Project
- National Supercomputing Centre Singapore
- Medical Research Council
- Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics
- National Key Research and Development Program of China
- H2020 European Research Council