Design, synthesis, and time-gated cell imaging of carbon-bridged triangulenium dyes with long fluorescence lifetime and red emission

Time-resolved fluorescence offers many advantages over normal steady-state detection and becomes increasingly important in bioimaging. However, only very few fluorophores with emission in the visible range and fluorescence lifetimes above 5 ns are available. In this work, we prepare a series of new aza/oxa-triangulenium dyes where one of the usual oxa or aza bridges is replaced by an isopropyl bridge. This leads to a significant redshift of fluorescence with only moderate reductions of quantum yields and a unique long fluorescence lifetime. The fluorescence of the isopropyl bridged diazatriangulenium derivative CDATA+ is red-shifted by 50 nm (1400 cm-1) as compared to the oxygen-bridged DAOTA+ chromophore and has intense emission in the red region (600-700 nm) with a quantum yield of 61%, and a fluorescence lifetime of 15.8 ns in apolar solution. When the CDATA+ dye is used as cell stain, high photostability and efficient time-gated cell imaging is demonstrated.

Synthesis, structure, and properties of azatriangulenlenium salts

A general synthetic route to novel nitrogen-bridged heterocyclic carbenium ions of the acridinium and triangulenium type has been developed and investigated. The synthetic method is based on nucleophilic aromatic substitution (SNAr) on the tris(2,6-dimethoxyphenyl)carbenium ion (1) with primary amines and, by virtue of its stepwise and irreversible nature, provides a powerful tool for the preparation of a wide variety of new heterocyclic carbenium salts. Several derivatives of the three new oxygen- and/or nitrogen-bridged triangulenium salts, azadioxa- (6), diazaoxa- (7), and triazatriangulenium (4), have been synthesized and their physicochemical properties have been investigated. Crystal structures for compounds 2 b-PF6, 2 d-PF6, 4b-BF4, 4c-BF4, 6e-BF4, and 8 are reported. The different packing modes found for the triazatriagulenium salts are discussed in relation to the electrostatic and space-filling requirements of the ions. The stabilities of the cations 6a, 7b, and 4a, as expressed by their pKR+ values, have been determined in strongly basic nonaqueous solution by use of the C_ acidity function; the values obtained were 14.5, 19.4, and 23.7, respectively. This study further implied that the C_ scale in its present form is unsuitable for the precise determination of pKR+ values beyond 22.