Bright red-emitting highly reliable styryl probe with large Stokes shift for visualizing mitochondria in live cells under wash-free conditions

Bright red-emitting pyridinium cyanine based styryl probe 2 is synthesized in good yields. Probe 2 demonstrated a large Stokes' shift (Δλ ≈ 128 nm, 4227 cm^-1 in DCM) and excellent fluorescent quantum yield (ϕ_fl ≈ 0.2 - 0.7) due to strong Intra-molecular charge transfer (ICT). Probe 2 found to exhibit exceptional selectivity for cellular mitochondria in both normal (COS-7) and cancer (A549) cell lines. Probe 2 is readily applicable as a "wash-free" dye to visualize mitochondria as it does not require post-staining washing prior to imaging. Styryl probe 2 also showed an excellent biocompatibility as the calculated LC₅₀ (lethal concentration, 50%) value was > 20 μM. Probe 2 emission did not show any interferences from anionic species or other biological molecules. Probe 2 is readily excitable (λ_ex ∼460 and λ_em ∼618 nm) with the available laser (454 nm) in commercial microscopes and thus it can be a useful probe for mitochondrial tracking in live cells.

A Fluorescent Flavonoid for Lysosome Imaging: the Effect of Substituents on Selectivity and Optical Properties

Lysosome selective bright orange-red emitting flavonoid (2) was synthesized by attaching a strong donor (NPh₂) group into flavonoid skeleton. As a result of efficient intra molecular charge transfer due to the strong donor group, a significant bathochromic shift was observed from the emission of 2b (with a -NPh₂ group, λ_em ≈ 590 nm), in comparison that of 1b (with a -NMe₂ group, λ_em ≈ 519 nm). The role of the substituent effect towards ICT was further studied by low temperature spectral analysis. Fluorescence spectra at low temperature confirmed that large Stokes shift for probe 2 (Δλ ≈ 150 nm) was due to strong ICT. Probe 2b exhibited exceptional selectivity towards cellular lysosomes in live cells studies thus generating bright orange-red emission upon localization. Intra-cellular pH analysis results confirmed that probe 2b did not participate in the elevation of lysosomal pH upon staining with different probe concentrations (0.5 μM - 2.0 μM) which is a potential advantage compared to acidotropic commercial LysoTracker® probes. This study further illustrated that the substituents in probe 2 play a significant role towards probe's organelle selectivity since probe 2a (R = OH) did not show any lysosomal localization compared with 2b. In addition, the calculated cytotoxicity data further revealed that this new probe design is highly biocompatible (LC₅₀ > 50 μM) and suitable for long term imaging. Graphical Abstract.

New bridged oligofuran for optoelectronic applications

Based on density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we have investigated the structural and optoelectronic properties of oligofuran (OFu)-bridged systems via useful electron donating groups (>S, >CH2, >SiH2 and >NH) and electron accepting ones (>CC(CN)2, >CO, >CS and >CCH2). The results were then discussed and compared with those obtained with the correspondingunbridged form. It was found that the optical band gap of OFu decreases significantly when it is bridged by >NH group arranged through an alternating way with >CS or >CC(CN)2 group, which gives bridged polyfuran (PFu) with desirable opto-electronic properties. Further, an intra-molecular charge transfer for the systems was undertaken in support of time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) and semi-empirical ZINDO calculations. In this frame, we have shown that >CC(CN)2 and >S bridging groups leads to a new oligomer possessing favorable optoelectronic parameter for its use as an active layer in organic photovoltaic cells.