Synthesis and Characterization of a Novel Near-Infrared Fluorescent Probe for Living Cells Imaging.

Currently, optical probes with near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence are of great interest in chemical biology. In the present study, we designed and synthesized a novel NIR fluorescent probe, IR789. IR789 has high selectivity and sensitivity for living cells imaging. The stronger excitation and emission characteristics suggested its dominant optical properties over ICG. IR789 also showed a high affinity and inconspicuous cytotoxicity at the cellular level. The results of fluorescent image in living A549 cells (human lung adenocarcinoma epithelial cell line) further demonstrated its potential applications for biomedical diagnosis in biological systems utilization of nanotechnology.