Two-Photon Water-Soluble Dyes and Their Amine-Reactive Derivative for Two-Photon Bio-Imaging Applications
Ali Hayek, Frederic Bolze, Jean-Francois Nicoud, Alain Duperray, Alexei Grichine, Patrice L. Baldeck and Jean-Claude Vial
Two series of water-soluble blue fluorescent two-photon excited chromophores for bio-imaging based on bis-stilbenic structure were synthesized.Wadsworth-Emmons reaction was used to build one dimensional D-p-aromatic core-p-D structures. The water solubility is induced by three oligo-ethylene glycol moieties in positions 3, 4, and 5 of the peripheral phenyl ring. Their two-photon absorption (TPA) cross-section in the range of 150 GM at 700 nm have been measured by the way of their two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) properties. It is 10 to 100 times higher than commercial dyes commonly used in bio-imaging. This makes these new TPA chromophores good candidates for in-vivo two-photon excited (TPE) microscopy.