Synthesis and characterization of a cell-permeable near-infrared fluorescent deoxyglucose analogue for cancer cell imaging

We report the synthesis and characterization of a novel NIR fluorescent deoxyglucose analogue, CyNE 2-DG. Experiments in different cell lines showed a preferential uptake of CyNE 2-DG in cancer cells and its effective competition with unlabeled D-glucose. Cell imaging experiments demonstrated the superior cell-permeability of CyNE 2-DG over the NIR standard IRDye 800CW 2-DG, and validated its application for cancer cell imaging in the NIR region.