An environmentally sensitive zinc-selective two-photon NIR fluorescent turn-on probe and zinc sensing in stroke

Junfeng Wang; Qibing Liu; Yingbo Li; Yi Pang

doi:10.1016/j.jpha.2023.11.010

An environmentally sensitive zinc-selective two-photon NIR fluorescent turn-on probe and zinc sensing in stroke

J Pharm Anal. 2024 Apr;14(4):100903. doi: 10.1016/j.jpha.2023.11.010. Epub 2023 Nov 29.

Authors

Junfeng Wang^{1

2}, Qibing Liu^{3

4}, Yingbo Li⁵, Yi Pang^{1

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, The University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325, USA.
² Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
³ Department of Pharmacy, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 570100, China.
⁴ Engineering Research Center of Tropical Medicine, Ministry of Education, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 571199, China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.
⁶ Maurice Morton Institute of Polymer Science, The University of Akron, Akron, OH 44325, USA.

Abstract

A two-photon near infrared (NIR) fluorescence turn-on sensor with high selectivity and sensitivity for Zn²⁺ detection has been developed. This sensor exhibits a large Stokes' shift (∼300 nm) and can be excited from 900 to 1000 nm, with an emission wavelength of ∼785 nm, making it ideal for imaging in biological tissues. The sensor's high selectivity for Zn²⁺ over other structurally similar cations, such as Cd²⁺, makes it a promising tool for monitoring zinc ion levels in biological systems. Given the high concentration of zinc in thrombi, this sensor could provide a useful tool for in vivo thrombus imaging.

Keywords: Molecular imaging; Near-infrared; Stroke; Thrombus.

Abstract

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