Gao Shuai, Zhang Yongming, Cui Kai, Zhang Sihang, Qiu Yuanyuan, Liao Yunhui, Wang Haoze, Yu Sheng, Ma Liyang, Chen Hongzhuan, Ji Minbiao, Fang Xiaohong, Lu Wei, Xiao Zeyu
School of Pharmacy & Minhang Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Key Laboratory of Smart Drug Delivery Ministry of Education, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Shanghai Key Laboratory for Nucleic Acid Chemistry and Nanomedicine, Key Laboratory of Cell Differentiation and Apoptosis of Chinese Ministry of Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Nat Biotechnol. 2024 Aug 21. doi: 10.1038/s41587-024-02342-9.
Raman spectroscopy using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nanoprobes represents an ultrasensitive and high-precision technique for in vivo imaging. Clinical translation of SERS nanoprobes has been hampered by biosafety concerns about the metal substrates used to enhance Raman signals. We report a set of small molecules with bis-thienyl-substituted benzobisthiadiazole structures that enhance Raman signal through self-stacking rather than external substrates. In our technique, called stacking-induced charge transfer-enhanced Raman scattering (SICTERS), the self-stacked small molecules form an ordered spatial arrangement that enables three-dimensional charge transfer between neighboring molecules. The Raman scattering cross-section of SICTERS nanoprobes is 1350 times higher than that of conventional SERS gold nanoprobes of similar particle size. SICTERS outperforms SERS in terms of in vivo imaging sensitivity, resolution and depth. SICTERS is capable of noninvasive Raman imaging of blood and lymphatic vasculatures, which has not been achieved by SERS. SICTERS represents an alternative technique to enhance Raman scattering for guiding the design of ultrasensitive substrate-free Raman imaging probes.
使用表面增强拉曼散射（SERS）纳米探针的拉曼光谱法是一种用于体内成像的超灵敏且高精度的技术。SERS纳米探针的临床应用一直受到对用于增强拉曼信号的金属底物生物安全性担忧的阻碍。我们报道了一组具有双噻吩基取代苯并双噻二唑结构的小分子，它们通过自堆叠而非外部底物来增强拉曼信号。在我们称为堆叠诱导电荷转移增强拉曼散射（SICTERS）的技术中，自堆叠的小分子形成有序的空间排列，使得相邻分子之间能够进行三维电荷转移。SICTERS纳米探针的拉曼散射截面比类似粒径的传统SERS金纳米探针高1350倍。在体内成像灵敏度、分辨率和深度方面，SICTERS优于SERS。SICTERS能够对血液和淋巴管系统进行无创拉曼成像，这是SERS尚未实现的。SICTERS代表了一种增强拉曼散射的替代技术，用于指导超灵敏无底物拉曼成像探针的设计。
