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A Photoswitchable Fluorophore for the Real‐Time Monitoring of Dynamic Events in Living Organisms
Author(s) -
Zhang Yang,
Tang Sicheng,
Sansalone Lorenzo,
Baker James D.,
Raymo Françisco M.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201603545
Subject(s) - fluorophore , fluorescence , photochemistry , drosophila melanogaster , chemistry , nanotechnology , mechanism (biology) , biophysics , biological system , materials science , biology , optics , biochemistry , physics , gene , quantum mechanics
This study reports the synthesis of a photoactivatable fluorophore with optimal photochemical and photophysical properties for the real‐time tracking of motion in vivo. The photoactivation mechanism designed into this particular compound permits the conversion of an emissive reactant into an emissive product with resolved fluorescence, under mild illumination conditions that are impossible to replicate with conventional switching schemes based on bleaching. Indeed, the supramolecular delivery of these photoswitchable probes into the cellular blastoderm of Drosophila melanogaster embryos allows the real‐time visualization of translocating molecules with no detrimental effects on the developing organisms. Thus, this innovative mechanism for fluorescence photoactivation can evolve into a general chemical tool to monitor dynamic processes in living biological specimens.