In vivo fluorescence imaging of β-amyloid plaques with push–pull dimethylaminothiophene derivatives

In vivo fluorescence imaging of β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques in the brain is expected to be used as a new method for detecting Alzheimer's disease (AD). We synthesized novel push-pull dimethylaminothiophenyl (DTM) derivatives and evaluated their utility as in vivo fluorescence imaging probes targeting Aβ plaques. As a result, we found that DTM-2 is a promising fluorescent probe for Aβ plaques in the AD brains.