Bioorthogonally applicable multicolor fluorogenic naphthalimide-tetrazine probes with aggregation-induced emission characters

A series of naphthalimide-tetrazines were developed as bioorthogonal fluorogenic probes, which could produce significant fluorescence enhancement, notable aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characters and multicolor emissions after bioorthogonal reaction with strained dienophiles. Manipulating the pi-bridge in the fluorophore skeleton allows fine-tuning of the emission wavelength and influences the AIE-active properties. With these probes, we succeeded in no-wash fluorogenic protein labeling and mitochondria-selective bioorthogonal imaging in live cells.

Automated summary

A series of naphthalimide-tetrazines were developed as bioorthogonal fluorogenic probes, which showed significant fluorescence enhancement, notable aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characters, and multicolor emissions after reacting with strained dienophiles. Manipulation of the pi-bridge in the fluorophore skeleton allows for fine-tuning of emission wavelength and impacts AIE-active properties. These probes enabled successful no-wash fluorogenic protein labeling and mitochondria-selective bioorthogonal imaging in live cells.