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A Series of Carbazole Cationic Compounds with Large Two-Photon Absorption Cross Sections for Imaging Mitochondria in Living Cells with Two-Photon Fluorescence Microscopy

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Abstract

A series of carbazole cationic compounds based on donor- Π—acceptor (D-Π-A) structure were synthesized and characterized. They exhibit large two-photon absorption cross sections when excited by a 810 nm a laser beam, and their photophysical properties show that the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) character is predominant. Moreover these compounds can easily pass though the intact cell membrane of living cells, amongst, 3-(1-hydroxyethyl -4-vinylpyridium iodine)-N-butyl carbazole (9B-HVC) has been proven to be capable of accumulating within the mitochondria possessing large membrane potential and imaging this organelle in living cells by means of two-photon fluorescence microscopy. At the same time usable fluorescent photos can be obtained at lower incident excitation power (5 mW) and low-micromolar concentrations (2 μM), which does not result in significant reduction in cell viability over a period of at least 24 h.

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Acknowledgement

For financial support, we thank the National Science Foundation of China (50673053, 50173015, 50925205, 50990303 and 50872070) and NSFC/RGC (50218001). Also Open Project of State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials, Independent Innovation Foundation of Shandong University, (2009JC011) and the Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to Universities in China (111 programNo. b06015).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, People’s Republic of China

    Xin Liu, Yuanhong Zhang, Ning Zhao, Hongshi Zhao, Guancong Wang, Xiaoqiang Yu & Hong Liu

  2. Optics Department, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, People’s Republic of China

    Yuming Sun

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  1. Xin Liu
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  2. Yuming Sun
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  3. Yuanhong Zhang
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  8. Hong Liu
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Correspondence to Xiaoqiang Yu or Hong Liu.

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Liu, X., Sun, Y., Zhang, Y. et al. A Series of Carbazole Cationic Compounds with Large Two-Photon Absorption Cross Sections for Imaging Mitochondria in Living Cells with Two-Photon Fluorescence Microscopy. J Fluoresc 21, 497–506 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-010-0736-8

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