Fluorophores in the near-infrared (NIR, 700-1000nm) and short-wave infrared (SWIR, 1000-2000nm) have garnered considerable interest in the field of fluorescence imaging due to the increased tissue penetration and low auto-fluorescence these wavelengths can offer. However, in comparison to visible-light fluorophores, there is still a lack of suitable organic probes for these regions. Thus, our lab has utilized polymethines as a scaffold for developing new small molecule dyes which can predictably be red-shifted with simple structural modifications such as increasing the polymethine chain length or altering the heterocycle. In a similar vein, silicon insertion into hetereocycles has been shown to bathochromically shift absorption and emission in other fluorophore scaffolds, notably rhodamines. We hypothesize that the use of silicon could impart a similar effect in polymethine fluorophores. The synthesis and photophysics of silicon-polymethines are described. The emission of these polymethines are red-shifted approximately 100nm from their oxygen counterparts. The introduction of silicon into polymethine dyes is a promising new avenue to developing fluorophores for the NIR and SWIR.

Silicon polymethine fluorophores for the near-infrared and shortwave infrared

2019 Fall National Meeting

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