Naphthalimide-modified near-infrared cyanine dye with a large stokes shift and its application in bioimaging

Developing the novel fluorescent dyes with a larger Stokes shift is still a challenge in the research of fluorescence probes. In this work, a naphthalimide-modified near-infrared cyanine dye with an emission at 785 nm has been synthesized for lysosome-targeting imaging. This fluorescent dye showed a large Stokes shift (up to 165 nm) and favorable lysosome-targeting property, which facilitated it to be a potential candidate for studying of lysosomal functions. The result also indicated that the probe is a promising contrast agent for in vivo imaging in mouse models. (C) 2017 Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.