Rational design of anthocyanidins-directed near-infrared two-photon fluorescent probes

• Published in: Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP Vol. 26; no. 36; pp. 23871 - 23885
• Main Authors: Zhang, Xiu-E, Wei, Xue, Cui, Wei-Bo, Bai, Jin-Pu, Matyusup, Aynur, Guo, Jing-Fu, Li, Hui, Ren, Ai-Min
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Royal Society of Chemistry 18.09.2024
• Subjects: Absorption cross sections; Anthocyanins; Charge transfer; Conjugation; Emission; Fluorescent dyes; Fluorescent indicators; Luminous intensity; Photon absorption; Photons; Reaction products
• ISSN: 1463-9076; 1463-9084; 1463-9084
• DOI: 10.1039/d4cp02067g

Recently, two-photon fluorescent probes based on anthocyanidin molecules have attracted extensive attention due to their outstanding photophysical properties. However, there are only a few two-photon excited fluorescent probes that really meet the requirements of relatively long emission wavelengths (>600 nm), large two-photon absorption (TPA) cross-sections (300 GM), significant Stokes shift (>80 nm), and high fluorescence intensity. Herein, the photophysical properties of a series of anthocyanidins with the same substituents but different fluorophore skeletons are investigated in detail. Compared with b-series molecules, a-series molecules with a six-membered ring in the backbone have a slightly higher reorganization energy. This results in more energy loss upon light excitation, enabling the reaction products to detect NTR through a larger Stokes shift. More importantly, there is very little decrease in fluorescence intensity as the Stokes shift increases. These features are extremely valuable for high-resolution NTR detection. In light of this, novel 2a-n ( = 1-5) compounds are designed, which are accomplished by inhibiting the twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) effect through alkyl cyclization, azetidine ring and extending π conjugation. Among them, 2a-3 gains a long emission spectrum ( = 691.4 nm), noticeable TPA cross-section (957 GM), and large Stokes shift (110 nm), indicating that it serves as a promising candidate for two-photon fluorescent dyes. It is hoped that this work will offer some insightful theoretical direction for the development of novel high performance anthocyanin fluorescent materials.