Spearman Anthony L, Lin Eric Y, Mobley Emily B, Chmyrov Andriy, Arús Bernardo A, Turner Daniel W, Garcia Cesar A, Bui Kyle, Rowlands Christopher, Bruns Oliver T, Sletten Ellen M
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, 607 Charles E. Young Dr. East, Los Angeles, California 90095, United States.
Department of Functional Imaging in Surgical Oncology, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT/UCC), Dresden 01307, Germany.
J Am Chem Soc. 2025 May 21;147(20):17384-17393. doi: 10.1021/jacs.5c03673. Epub 2025 May 9.
Imaging in the shortwave infrared (SWIR) region offers fast, high-resolution visualization of targets in a multiplexed manner. These methods require bright, bathochromically shifted fluorescent dyes with sufficient emission at SWIR wavelengths-ideally above 1500 nm for high-resolution deep tissue imaging. Polymethine dyes are a privileged class of contrast agents due to their excellent absorption and high degree of modularity. In this work, we push flavylium and chromenylium dyes further into the SWIR region through polymethine chain extension. This panel of nonamethine dyes boasts absorbances as red as 1149 nm and tail emission beyond 1500 nm. These dyes are the brightest organic fluorophores at their respective bandgaps to date, with ε ∼ 10 M cm and Φ up to 0.5%. Using two nonamethine dyes, and , we performed two-color all-SWIR multiplexed imaging (Excitation at 1060 and 1150 nm; Emission collection at >1500 nm), enhancing the depths and resolutions able to be obtained in multicolor SWIR imaging with small molecule contrast agents. Finally, we combine the nonamenthine dyes with other SWIR-emissive fluorophores and demonstrate five-color awake imaging in an unrestrained mouse, simultaneously pushing the multiplexing, resolution, and speed limits of optical imaging.
短波红外(SWIR)区域的成像能够以多路复用的方式对目标进行快速、高分辨率的可视化。这些方法需要在SWIR波长下具有明亮、红移荧光发射的染料,理想情况下,对于高分辨率深层组织成像,发射波长应在1500 nm以上。聚甲炔染料由于其出色的吸收性能和高度的模块化,是一类特殊的造影剂。在这项工作中,我们通过聚甲炔链延伸将黄酮鎓和色烯鎓染料进一步推向SWIR区域。这组九甲川染料的吸收波长可达1149 nm,发射尾峰超过1500 nm。这些染料是目前在各自带隙下最亮的有机荧光团,其摩尔吸光系数ε约为10 M⁻¹cm⁻¹,荧光量子产率Φ高达0.5%。我们使用两种九甲川染料进行了双色全SWIR多路复用成像(激发波长为1060和1150 nm;发射光收集波长>1500 nm),提高了小分子造影剂在多色SWIR成像中能够获得的深度和分辨率。最后,我们将九甲川染料与其他SWIR发射荧光团相结合,在自由活动的小鼠中展示了五色清醒成像,同时突破了光学成像的多路复用、分辨率和速度限制。