Lutidine derivatives for live-cell imaging of the mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum

• Published in: Organic & biomolecular chemistry Vol. 2; no. 35; pp. 747 - 755
• Main Authors: Singh, Deepmala, Shewale, Dipeshwari J, Sengupta, Aakash, Soppina, Virupakshi, Kanvah, Sriram
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 14.09.2022
• Subjects: Chemical compounds; Dynamic structural analysis; Endoplasmic reticulum; Fluorescence; Fluorophores; Imaging; Localization; Mitochondria
• ISSN: 1477-0520; 1477-0539
• DOI: 10.1039/d2ob00995a

The mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) are highly dynamic subcellular structures essential for several biological functions. The development of non-toxic, wash-free fluorophores to visualize these structures inside cells aid in understanding their localization and dynamics in diverse cellular processes. In this paper, we report the synthesis and characterization of lutidine-based cationic fluorophores bearing push-pull substituents exhibiting emission in green and red wavelength regions and their subcellular localization in living cells. The confocal imaging of the molecules in a cellular domain reveals the robust localization of three molecules ( 2 , 4 and 5 ) in the mitochondria and two molecules with polyfluorophenyl substituents ( 6 and 7 ) in the ER. At the same time, the other two molecules ( 1 and 3 ) showed non-specific imaging. These molecules can also be used to sense the altered viscosity of the stressed ER and investigate its dynamics. The tuning of lutidines for selective sub-cellular localization in the mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum.