Naphthalimide-modified near-infrared cyanine dye with a large stokes shift and its application in bioimaging

Developing the novel fluorescent dyes with a larger Stokes shift is still a challenge in the research of fluorescence probes. In this work, a naphthalimide-modified near-infrared cyanine dye with an emission at 785 nm has been synthesized for lysosome-targeting imaging. This fluorescent dye showed a large Stokes shift (up to 165 nm) and favorable lysosome-targeting property, which facilitated it to be a potential candidate for studying of lysosomal functions. The result also indicated that the probe is a promising contrast agent for in vivo imaging in mouse models.