Novel alkyl chain-based fluorescent probes with large Stokes shifts used for imaging the cell membrane and mitochondria in different living cell lines

Abstract

Fluorescent dyes with large Stokes shifts play a key role in developing multi-purpose fluorescent probes for a wide variety of targets. In this study, we developed two novel alkyl chain-based fluorescent probes (CA-C12 and CA-C2) with large Stokes shifts. The alkyl chain length of the probes affect the membrane permeability, and hence both probes can be successfully applied for sensing the cell membrane and mitochondria in different living cell lines. Furthermore, the probes CA-C12 and CA-C2 exhibited large Stokes shifts and excellent photostability in the different cell lines. The fluorescent dyes with large Stokes shifts were expected to have broader applications for developing various fluorescent probes with excellent optical properties.