Citation: Zijian Jiang, Yijing Du, Zetao Dang, Tongze Liu, Mengyuan Liu, Bin Sun, Feiran Zhang, Jiajun Xu, Shoujun Zhu. Biomimetic NIR-Ⅱ fluorescent probe from covalent encapsulation enables high-performance NIR-Ⅱ bioimaging[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2026, 37(4): 111351. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111351 shu

Biomimetic NIR-Ⅱ fluorescent probe from covalent encapsulation enables high-performance NIR-Ⅱ bioimaging

Zijian Jiang ^{a, b, c, 1} ,
Yijing Du ^{b, c, 1} ,
Zetao Dang ^{b, c, 1} ,
Tongze Liu ^a ,
Mengyuan Liu ^{b, c} ,
Bin Sun ^{b, c} ,
Feiran Zhang ^{b, c, *,} ,
Jiajun Xu ^{a, b, c, *,} ,
Shoujun Zhu ^{b, c, *,}

a.
Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Diagnosis of the Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology of Hebei Province, College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Hebei University, Baoding 071002, China
b.
State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, Center for Supramolecular Chemical Biology, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
c.
Joint Laboratory of Opto-Functional Theranostics in Medicine and Chemistry, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China

zhangfr21@mails.jlu.edu.cn

jjxu_bio@hbu.edu.cn

sjzhu@jlu.edu.cn

Received Date: 8 January 2025
Revised Date: 9 May 2025
Accepted Date: 19 May 2025
Available Online: 20 May 2025

Figures(5)

To promote the advantages of near-infrared-Ⅱ (NIR-Ⅱ) imaging, researchers have developed various types of NIR-Ⅱ imaging contrast agents, with conjugated dyes being one of the most important categories. However, hydrophobic dyes often rely on encapsulation with amphiphilic polymers for biological applications, which lead to brightness quenching and instability in vivo. To address this, we proposed a covalent encapsulation strategy to transform the hydrophobic dye from organic solvent to aqueous solution. To achieve this, we designed a chlorine-containing NIR-Ⅱ cyanine dye (C7–1080), which covalently binds to human serum albumin (HSA), forming a stable NIR-Ⅱ fluorescent probe, HSA@C7–1080. The HSA@C7–1080 has precise molecular weight and spatial structure, making dye monodispersing in the albumin pocket with improved fluorescence and stability. This NIR-Ⅱ fluorescent probe provides high-resolution NIR-Ⅱ imaging in various biological systems. Our strategy offers a promising alternative for the clinical translation of hydrophobic NIR-Ⅱ dyes, improving their biocompatibility and imaging performance in fluorescence-guided surgery.
- NIR-Ⅱ fluorescence imaging,
- NIR-Ⅱ cyanine dye,
- Albumin,
- Covalent encapsulation strategy,
- In-vivo imaging
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