Development of simple firefly luciferin analogs emitting blue, green, red, and near-infrared biological window light

Simple firefly luciferin analogs emitting blue, green, and red light were developed. The longest emission maximum was observed at 675 nm, which belongs to the NIR biological window (650-900 nm), useful for deep site bioimaging of living animals. The analogs showed a slow rise of emission intensity compared with the rapid emission of natural luciferin. The light emission of the adenylated analogs was strongly enhanced compared with those of analogs themselves. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.