10779/rcsi.10991318.v1 Dan Wu Dan Wu Shane Cheung Shane Cheung Corry James O'Sullivan Corry James O'Sullivan Yinghua Gao Yinghua Gao Zhi-Long Chen Zhi-Long Chen Donal F. O'Shea Donal F. O'Shea Strained alkyne substituted near infrared BF2 azadipyrromethene fluorochrome Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland 2019 Fluorescence imaging BF2 azadipyrromethene fluorochrome 2019-11-23 11:49:21 Journal contribution https://repository.rcsi.com/articles/journal_contribution/Strained_alkyne_substituted_near_infrared_BF2_azadipyrromethene_fluorochrome/10991318 <p>The contribution of imaging with near infrared (NIR) fluorophores to the elucidation of complex biological processes continues to rapidly expand. New tools for mild selective bioconjugation are strongly desirable for the construction of NIR labelled biomolecules. This work presents the synthesis and evaluation of a strained alkyne substituted NIR BF2-azadipyrromethene (NIR-AZA) which can conjugate in water with azido-homoalanine and cRGD peptide within 30 min at rt. Imaging analysis of the NIR-AZA–cRGD conjugate in vitro and in vivo showed efficient cellular uptake and good in vivo tumor targeting properties, illustrating the potential for translation to clinical imaging.</p>