Biocompatible Flavone-Based Fluorogenic Probes for Quick Wash-Free Mitochondrial Imaging in Living Cells

Abstract

Mitochondria, vital organelles existing in almost all eukaryotic cells, play a crucial role in energy metabolism and apoptosis of aerobic organisms. In this work, we report two new flavone-based fluorescent probes, MC-Mito1 and MC-Mito2, for monitoring mitochondria in living cells. These two probes exhibit remarkably low toxicity, good cell permeability, and high specificity; these probes complement the existing library of mitochondrial imaging agents. The new dyes give nearly no background fluorescence, and their application does not require tedious postwashing after cell staining. The appreciable tolerance of MC-Mito2 encourages a broader range of biological applications for understanding the cell degeneration and apoptosis mechanism.

Supramolecular Inclusion‐Assisted Disruption of Probe‐Solvent Network

“…As the polarity/proticity of the medium decreases ESIPT is favored, putting a signature in a relatively greater enhancement in the tautomer emission at the cost of the normal form. Going from aqueous to the CD environments, 3HF maintains this trend ,,,. The normal form of 3HF, emitting at ∼ 410 nm, reveals an atypical decreasing trend of its fluorescence anisotropy with the addition of cyclodextrins relative to its unprecedented high value (∼ 0.30) in the aqueous medium.…”

“…Going from aqueous to the CD environments, 3HF maintains this trend. [13,15,26,27] The normal form of 3HF, emitting at~410 nm, reveals an atypical decreasing trend of its fluorescence anisotropy with the addition of cyclodextrins relative to its [a] S.…”

Fluorescent flavonoids for endoplasmic reticulum cell imaging

“…Our recent studies show that the flavonoid 1 (Scheme 2) with a suitable amino substituent (R 2 N–) is an environmentally sensitive dye, which can be tailored to target various biomolecular structures. 21,22 Thus, via attaching a functional group at the C-3 position of “chromen-4-one” segment, flavonoid 1a can label mitochondria. 21 Flavonoid 1b shows a large fluorescence turn-on upon selective binding to albumin proteins.…”

“…21,22 Thus, via attaching a functional group at the C-3 position of “chromen-4-one” segment, flavonoid 1a can label mitochondria. 21 Flavonoid 1b shows a large fluorescence turn-on upon selective binding to albumin proteins. 22 The observed protein selectivity also raises the possibility for other protein binding-induced fluorescence turn-on.…”

Enabling the Triplet of Tetraphenylethene to Sensitize the Excited State of Europium(III) for Protein Detection and Time‐Resolved Luminescence Imaging

“…In cell cultures, this problem may be avoided by washing the samples to remove unbound probes 15. However, in the case of living tissue or organism imaging, the in situ separation of unbound probes may be undesirable, difficult, or even impossible 16. In addition, this time‐consuming process delays the acquisition of microscopic data and prevents the monitoring of molecular interactions in real time 17.…”