A thiol-triggered croconaine-chromene integration to induce ferroptosis and photothermal synergistic efficient tumor ablation

Theranostic probes, combining diagnostic and treatment capabilities, have emerged as promising tools in tumor precision medicine. However, existing probes with constant fluorescence and photothermal activity can result in low signal-to-background ratios and phototoxicity. In this study, we introduced CM-Croc, a novel probe comprised of chromene and croconaine, selectively triggered by thiol. CM-Croc exhibited turn-on fluorescence and released croconaine for photothermal therapy. The croconaine moiety possesses high photothermal conversion efficiency up to 55%. Besides, it demonstrated potent activity against various cancer cell lines at low micromolar concentrations, including drug-resistant variants, through enhanced photothermal therapy combined with the ferroptosis effect. What's more, CM-Croc was proved to inhibit the activity of GPX4 to induce ferroptosis. Finally, CM-Croc was demonstrated to be the first croconaine-derived SOP, which targeted tumors and significantly inhibited tumor growth in vivo following intravenous administration with irradiation. This study showed CM-Croc's potential for enhancing tumor precision medicine.

Neutral rhodol-based dyes expressing localization in mitochondria

Neutral rhodol-based red emitters are shown to efficiently localize in mitochondria, as demonstrated by confocal microscopy and co-localization studies. A simple model is proposed to explain the localization mechanism of neutral molecules. The model takes into account the strong coupling between the molecular dipole moment and the electric field of the inner mitochondrial membrane.

The untold story of starch as a catalyst for organic reactions

Starch is one of the members of the polysaccharide family. This biopolymer has shown many potential applications in different fields such as catalytic reactions, water treatment, packaging, and food industries. In recent years, using starch as a catalyst has attracted much attention. From a catalytic point of view, starch can be used in organic chemistry reactions as a catalyst or catalyst support. Reports show that as a catalyst, simple starch can promote many heterocyclic compound reactions. On the other hand, functionalized starch is not only capable of advancing the synthesis of heterocycles but also is a good candidate catalyst for other reactions including oxidation and coupling reactions. This review tries to provide a fair survey of published organic reactions which include using starch as a catalyst or a part of the main catalyst. Therefore, the other types of starch applications are not the subject of this review.

Multiple organelle-targeted 1,8-naphthyridine derivatives for detecting the polarity of organelles

Four 1,8-naphthyridine derivatives (1a-1d) with different organelle targeting abilities were obtained using the Knoevenagel condensation reaction of 1,8-naphthyridine with 4-(N,N-diethylamino)benzaldehyde (2a), 4-(N,N-diphenylamino)benzaldehyde (2b), 4-(piperazin-1-yl)benzaldehyde (2c) and 4-(ethyl(4-formylphenyl)amino)-N-(2-((4-methylphenyl)sulfonamido)ethyl)butanamide (2d), respectively. The maximal absorption bands of dyes 1a-1d were observed at 375-447 nm, while their maximum emission peaks were situated at 495-605 nm. The optical properties showed that the fluorescence emission of dyes 1a-1d is shifted toward greater wavelengths as the system polarity (Δf) increased. Meanwhile, with increasing polarity of the mixed 1,4-dioxane/H₂O system, the fluorescence intensity of dyes 1a-1d gradually decreased. Furthermore, the fluorescence intensity of 1a-1d enhanced by 12-239 fold as the polarity of 1,4-dioxane/H₂O mixtures declined. 1a-1d had a large Stokes shift (up to 229 nm) in polar solvents in comparison to nonpolar solvents. The colocalization imaging experiments demonstrated that dyes 1a-1d (3-10 μM) were located in mitochondria, lipid droplets, lysosomes and the endoplasmic reticulum in living HeLa cells, respectively; and they could monitor the polarity fluctuation of the corresponding organelles. Consequently, this work proposes a molecular design idea with different organelle targeting capabilities based on the same new fluorophore, and this molecular design idea may provide more alternatives for polarity-sensitive fluorescent probes with organelle targeting.

Organelle-Targeted Fluorescent Probes for Sulfane Sulfur Species

Sulfane sulfurs, which include hydropersulfides (RSSH), hydrogen polysulfides (H2Sn, n > 1), and polysulfides (RSnR, n > 2), play important roles in cellular redox biology and are closely linked to hydrogen sulfide (H2S) signaling. While most studies on sulfane sulfur detection have focused on sulfane sulfurs in the whole cell, increasing the recognition of the effects of reactive sulfur species on the functions of various subcellular organelles has emerged. This has driven a need for organelle-targeted detection methods. However, the detection of sulfane sulfurs, particularly of RSSH and H2Sn, in biological systems is still a challenge due to their low endogenous concentrations and instabilities. In this review, we summarize the development and design of organelle-targeted fluorescent sulfane sulfur probes, examine their organelle-targeting strategies and choices of fluorophores (e.g., ratiometric, near-infrared, etc.), and discuss their mechanisms and ability to detect endogenous and exogenous sulfane sulfur species. We also present the advantages and limitations of the probes and propose directions for future work on this topic.

Mitochondria-Targeted Luminescent Organotin(IV) Complexes: Synthesis, Photophysical Characterization, and Live Cell Imaging

Five fluorescent ONO donor-based organotin(IV) complexes, [Sn^IV(L^1-5)Ph₂] (1-5), were synthesized by the one-pot reaction method and fully characterized spectroscopically including the single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies of 2-4. Detailed photophysical characterization of all compounds was performed. All the compounds exhibited high luminescent properties with a quantum yield of 17-53%. Additionally, the results of cellular permeability analysis suggest that they are lipophilic and easily absorbed by cells. Confocal microscopy was used to examine the live cell imaging capability of 1-5, and the results show that the compounds are mostly internalized in mitochondria and exhibit negligible cytotoxicity at imaging concentration. Also, 1-5 exhibited high photostability as compared to the commercial dye and can be used in long-term real-time tracking of cell organelles. Also, it is found that the probes (1-5) are highly tolerable during the changes in mitochondrial morphology. Thus, this kind of low-toxic organotin-based fluorescent probe can assist in imaging of mitochondria within living cells and tracking changes in their morphology.

Near-infrared fluorescent probes based on a quinoxaline skeleton for imaging nucleic acids in mitochondria

In this paper, two cationic probes 1a and 1b and a neutral dye 1c were successfully designed and synthesized according to the Knoevenagel condensation reaction, which combines the good optical properties of hemocyanine and the biocompatibility of nitrogen-containing heterocyclic rings based on a quinoxaline skeleton. Probes 1a and 1b showed an OFF-ON fluorescence response to nucleic acids with excellent selectivity. Specifically, the fluorescence intensity of probe 1a was enhanced by 18 and 133 times, respectively, along with the increase of DNA or RNA concentrations (0-600 μg mL^-1). Furthermore, a good linear correlation between the fluorescence intensity of probes 1a and 1b and the concentrations of DNA or RNA (0-350 μg mL^-1) was obtained. In particular, the maximum emission wavelengths of probes 1a and 1b reached the near-infrared region (660-664 nm) when DNA or RNA was detected, which might reduce the light damage to cells and facilitate cell experiments. Fluorescence imaging revealed that all three dyes could be localized in the mitochondria of HeLa cells. The difference was that probes 1a and 1b could stain the nucleic acid in the mitochondria, while dye 1c was only a neutral mitochondrial biomarker. The results indicated that probes 1a and 1b are promising in the development of low toxicity mitochondrial nucleic acid probes and are expected to be used in monitoring the normal state of mitochondrial nucleic acids for living cells, which will help improve the situation in that currently reported studies of fluorescent probes are mainly focused on the nucleic acids in the nucleus, but less so on DNA in the mitochondria.

A Simple Route toward Next-Generation Thiobase-Based Photosensitizers for Cancer Theranostics

Sulfur-substituted biocompatible carbonyl fluorophores have been recognized as effective heavy-atom-free photosensitizers (PSs) for cancer therapy due to their remarkable phototherapeutic properties. However, guidelines on their molecular design are still a substantial challenge. Most of the existing thiocarbonyl-based PSs are nonemissive in both the solution and restricted states, which hinders their further biomedical applications. Herein, we report the interesting finding that sulfur-substituted coumarins exhibit an uncommon phenomenon, aggregation-induced emission. More intriguingly, we also found that the introduction of a strong electron-accepting trifluoromethyl group is crucial to facilitate the mitochondrial-targeting ability of neutral coumarin fluorophores. The resulting CMS-2 PS displayed selective imaging of mitochondria and exhibited much higher photodynamic therapy efficiency toward cancer cells than that of the commercial PS erythrosine B. This work provides deep insight into the molecular design of heavy-atom-free thiobase-based PSs and simultaneously offers a great opportunity to develop novel mitochondrial-targeting fluorescent indicators with neutral bioinspired platforms.

Viscosity sensitive endoplasmic reticulum fluorescent probes based on oxazolopyridinium

A series of viscosity sensitive fluorescent probes 1a-e were synthesized by linking coumarin and oxazolopyridinium via dimethylene in this paper. The viscosity test of probes 1a-e indicated that the fluorescence intensity of the probes enhanced significantly with the increase of viscosity of the system (0.89-865 cP), and exhibited a nearly OFF-ON response to viscosity at 648 nm, 650 nm and 650 nm, respectively. In addition, cells still had a high survival rate after co-culturing with probes 1a-e for 12 h (94-98%). Meanwhile, the laser confocal experiment showed that the variation of the carbon chain length in the oxazolopyridinium could affect the subcellular region of the localization of the probes in cells. When the length of the carbon chain in oxazolopyridinium was between n-C7H15 and n-C12H23, probes 1b-d had the ability to target the endoplasmic reticulum in the cells. Moreover, probes 1b-d showed no significant change in fluorescence intensity after 35 min of continuous laser confocal irradiation, indicating that they had excellent anti-photobleaching properties.