Combined Two‐Photon Excitation and d→f Energy Transfer in a Water‐Soluble IrIII/EuIII Dyad: Two Luminescence Components from One Molecule for Cellular Imaging |
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| Authors: | Dr Elizabeth Baggaley Prof Deng‐Ke Cao Dr Daniel Sykes Prof Stanley W Botchway Dr Julia A Weinstein Prof Michael D Ward |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Chemistry, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7HF (UK);2. State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093 (P.R. China);3. Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, STFC, Research Complex at Harwell, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot OX11 0FA (UK) |
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| Abstract: | The first example of cell imaging using two independent emission components from a dinuclear d/f complex is reported. A water‐stable, cell‐permeable IrIII/EuIII dyad undergoes partial Ir→Eu energy transfer following two‐photon excitation of the Ir unit at 780 nm. Excitation in the near‐IR region generated simultaneously green Ir‐based emission and red Eu‐based emission from the same probe. The orders‐of‐magnitude difference in their timescales (Ir ca. μs; Eu ca. 0.5 ms) allowed them to be identified by time‐gated detection. Phosphorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (PLIM) allowed the lifetime of the Ir‐based emission to be measured in different parts of the cell. At the same time, the cells are simultaneously imaged by using the Eu‐based emission component at longer timescales. This new approach to cellular imaging by using dual d/f emitters should therefore enable autofluorescence‐free sensing of two different analytes, independently, simultaneously and in the same regions of a cell. |
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| Keywords: | energy transfer europium imaging agents iridium luminescence |
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