Three new water-soluble fluorescent organic nanoparticles with embedded structure: Structure-activity relationship and two-photon bio-imaging application

Abstract Three benzothiazole-based two-photon absorption (2PA) chromophores ( B1-3 ) were synthesized and the optical properties were investigated. The results illustrated the largest fluorescence quantum yield and effective 2PA cross-sections reached to 0.81 for compound B1 and 1013 GM for compound B3 in tetrahydrofuran solutions, respectively. Furthermore, the water-soluble fluorescent organic nanoparticles (FONs) possessing an embedded structure were prepared from the three compounds and Pluronic F127, which were successfully applied on two-photon nuclear envelope imaging.