Zhang Chaobang, Wu Yinglong, Zeng Fang, Wen Yubei, Chen Jiawei, Deng Gaowei, Zhang Liangliang, Zhao Shulin, Wu Shuizhu, Zhao Yanli
Biomedical Division, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, College of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, 381 Wushan Road, Guangzhou, 510640, China.
School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Nanyang Technological University, 21 Nanyang Link, Singapore, 637371, Singapore.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2024 Aug 19;63(34):e202406694. doi: 10.1002/anie.202406694. Epub 2024 Jul 19.
J-aggregation brings intriguing optical and electronic properties to molecular dyes and significantly expands their applicability across diverse domains, yet the challenge for rationally designing J-aggregating dyes persists. Herein, we developed a large number of J-aggregating dyes from scratch by progressively refining structure of a common heptamethine cyanine. J-aggregates with sharp spectral bands (full-width at half-maximum≤38 nm) are attained by introducing a branched structure featuring a benzyl and a trifluoroacetyl group at meso-position of dyes. Fine-tuning the benzyl group enables spectral regulation of J-aggregates. Analysis of single crystal data of nine dyes reveals a correlation between J-aggregation propensity and molecular arrangement within crystals. Some J-aggregates are successfully implemented in multiplexed optoacoustic and fluorescence imaging in animals. Notably, three-color multispectral optoacoustic tomography imaging with high spatiotemporal resolution is achieved, owing to the sharp and distinct absorption bands of the J-aggregates.
J-聚集赋予分子染料引人入胜的光学和电子特性，并显著扩展了它们在不同领域的适用性，但合理设计J-聚集染料的挑战依然存在。在此，我们通过逐步优化一种常见的七甲川花菁的结构，从头开发了大量J-聚集染料。通过在染料的中位引入具有苄基和三氟乙酰基的支链结构，获得了具有尖锐光谱带（半高宽≤38 nm）的J-聚集体。对苄基进行微调可实现J-聚集体的光谱调控。对九种染料的单晶数据进行分析，揭示了J-聚集倾向与晶体中分子排列之间的相关性。一些J-聚集体成功应用于动物的多重光声和荧光成像。值得注意的是，由于J-聚集体具有尖锐且独特的吸收带，实现了具有高时空分辨率的三色多光谱光声断层成像。
