Small Fluorogenic Amino Acids for Peptide-Guided Background-Free Imaging.

The multiple applications of super-resolution microscopy have prompted the need for minimally invasive labeling strategies for peptide-guided fluorescence imaging. Many fluorescent reporters display limitations (e.g.

A Bivalent Activatable Fluorescent Probe for Screening and Intravital Imaging of Chemotherapy-Induced Cancer Cell Death.

The detection and quantification of apoptotic cells is a key process in cancer research, particularly during the screening of anticancer therapeutics and in mechanistic studies using preclinical models. Intravital optical imaging enables high-resolution visualisation of cellular events in live organisms; however, there are few fluorescent probes that can reliably provide functional readouts in situ without interference from tissue autofluorescence. We report the design and optimisation of the fluorogenic probe Apotracker Red for real-time detection of cancer cell death.

A Palette of Minimally Tagged Sucrose Analogues for Real-Time Raman Imaging of Intracellular Plant Metabolism.

Sucrose is the main saccharide used for long-distance transport in plants and plays an essential role in energy metabolism; however, there are no analogues for real-time imaging in live cells. We have optimised a synthetic approach to prepare sucrose analogues including very small (≈50 Da or less) Raman tags in the fructose moiety. Spectroscopic analysis identified the alkyne-tagged compound as a sucrose analogue recognised by endogenous transporters in live cells and with higher Raman intensity than other sucrose derivatives.