Engineered NIR-II fluorophores with ultralong-distance molecular packing for high-contrast deep lesion identification

Zhe Feng, Yuanyuan Li, Siyi Chen, Jin Li, Tianxiang Wu, Yanyun Ying, Junyan Zheng, Yuhuang Zhang, Jianquan Zhang, Xiaoxiao Fan, Xiaoming Yu, Dan Zhang, Ben Zhong Tang () and Jun Qian ()
Additional contact information
Zhe Feng: Zhejiang University
Yuanyuan Li: Jilin University
Siyi Chen: Zhejiang University
Jin Li: Zhejiang University
Tianxiang Wu: Zhejiang University
Yanyun Ying: Zhejiang University School of Medicine
Junyan Zheng: Zhejiang University School of Medicine
Yuhuang Zhang: Zhejiang University
Jianquan Zhang: The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Xiaoxiao Fan: Zhejiang University
Xiaoming Yu: Zhejiang University School of Medicine
Dan Zhang: Zhejiang University School of Medicine
Ben Zhong Tang: The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Jun Qian: Zhejiang University

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract The limited signal of long-wavelength near-infrared-II (NIR-II, 900–1880 nm) fluorophores and the strong background caused by the diffused photons make high-contrast fluorescence imaging in vivo with deep tissue disturbed still challenging. Here, we develop NIR-II fluorescent small molecules with aggregation-induced emission properties, high brightness, and maximal emission beyond 1200 nm by enhancing electron-donating ability and reducing the donor-acceptor (D-A) distance, to complement the scarce bright long-wavelength emissive organic dyes. The convincing single-crystal evidence of D-A-D molecular structure reveals the strong inhibition of the π-π stacking with ultralong molecular packing distance exceeding 8 Å. The delicately-designed nanofluorophores with bright fluorescent signals extending to 1900 nm match the background-suppressed imaging window, enabling the signal-to-background ratio of the tissue image to reach over 100 with the tissue thickness of ~4–6 mm. In addition, the intraluminal lesions with strong negatively stained can be identified with almost zero background. This method can provide new avenues for future long-wavelength NIR-II molecular design and biomedical imaging of deep and highly scattering tissues.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-40728-6 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-40728-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40728-6

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().