Design of NIR Chromenylium-Cyanine Fluorophore Library for “Switch-ON” and Ratiometric Detection of Bio-Active Species In Vivo

The real-time monitoring of key biospecies in the living systems has received thrusting attention during the past decades. Specifically, fluorescent detection based on near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probes is highly favorable for live cells, live tissues, and even animal imaging, owing to the substantial merits of the NIR window, such as minimal phototoxicity, deep penetration into tissues, and low autofluorescence background. Nevertheless, developing potent NIR fluorescent probes still poses serious challenges to the chemists because traditional NIR fluorophores are less tunable than visible-wavelength fluorophores. To address this issue, here we report a set of novel NIR hybrid fluorophores, namely, the hybrid chromenylium-cyanine fluorophore (CC-Fluor), in which both the fluorescence intensity and the emission wavelength can be easily adjusted by the conformational changes and substitution groups. Compared to known NIR fluorophores, the new CC-Fluors are substantially advantageous for NIR probe develo...