发光ZnSalen配合物在分子荧光成像中的应用进展

荧光分子探针的设计、合成以及应用是分子荧光成像领域重要的化学问题.本文从Znsalen配合物的基本性质出发,概述了Znsalen配合物结构与功能的关系,特别是其发光性质与分子结构及分子聚集状态的相关性及应用.针对Znsalen配合物的发光性质,展示了其应用于分子荧光成像和活细胞中分子事件监测的研究进展.这些最新研究表明,Znsalen配合物探针的细胞毒性低(利于活细胞成像)、发光效率高(适用于单、双光子成像)、发光可调(通过配体的修饰和分子聚集状态的调节),有望作为一类重要的发光金属荧光探针实现在分子荧光成像中的应用.

Design of luminescent ZnSalen for molecular imaging

Design of luminescent metal complexes for ＂imaging＂ molecular events occurred intracellular is of importance to expand the scope of application of inorganic complexes in molecular imaging. In this review, we focused on the design of new transition metal complexes as biological optical probes and demonstrated their applications in ＂seeing＂ particular molecular events. ZnSalens （Salen = 2,3-bis（4-dialkylamino-2-hydroxybenzy- lidene） amino] but-2-enedini-trile） luminescent metal probes exhibit high fluorescence with nonlinear optical properties as well as large two photon absorption cross-section. It is consisted with an electron-donor （D）/electron- acceptor （A） pair with intramolecular charge transfer （ICT）, which renders ZnSalen a core structure for designing photoactivatable fluorophores. Combined with other attractive features in a biological context such as good membrane permeability and low cytotoxicity, further design and application of ZnSalens as a novel type of photoactivable fluorophore is promising in super resolution microscopes such as PALM, STED and STORM.