Silicon-substituted xanthene dyes, with Si in place of the O atom at the xanthene 10-position, are practically useful as far-red to near-infrared fluorophores. Many fluorescent probes based on them have recently been reported. These fluorophores retain the advantages of typical xanthene dyes and also show unique properties suitable for applications such as multi-color and super-resolution imaging.

Folate receptors (FRs) are membrane proteins involved in folic acid uptake, and the alpha isoform (FR‐α) is overexpressed in ovarian and endometrial cancer cells. For fluorescence imaging of FRs in vivo, the near‐infrared (NIR) region (650–900 nm), in which tissue penetration is high and autofluorescence is low, is optimal, but existing NIR fluorescent probes targeting FR‐α show high non‐specific tissue adsorption, and require prolonged washout to visualize tumors. We have designed and synthesized a new NIR fluorescent probe, FolateSiR‐1, utilizing a Si‐rhodamine fluorophore having a carboxy group at the benzene moiety, coupled to a folate ligand moiety through a negatively charged tripeptide linker. This probe exhibits very low background fluorescence and afforded a tumor‐to‐background ratio (TBR) of up to 83 in FR‐expressing tumor‐bearing mice within 30 min. Thus, FolateSiR‐1 has the potential to contribute to the research in the field of biology and the clinical medicine.

Fluorogenic probes for bioimaging have become essential tools for life science and medicine, and the key to their development is a precise understanding of the mechanisms available for fluorescence off/on control, such as photoinduced electron transfer (PeT) and Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET). Here we establish a new molecular design strategy to rationally develop activatable fluorescent probes, which exhibit a fluorescence off/on change in response to target biomolecules, by controlling the twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) process. This approach was developed on the basis of a thorough investigation of the fluorescence quenching mechanism of N-phenyl rhodamine dyes (commercially available as the QSY series) by means of timedependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations and photophysical evaluation of their derivatives. To illustrate and validate this TICT-based design strategy, we employed it to develop practical fluorogenic probes for HaloTag and SNAP-tag. We further show that the TICT-controlled fluorescence off/on mechanism is generalizable by synthesizing a Si−rhodamine-based fluorogenic probe for HaloTag, thus providing a palette of chemical dyes that spans the visible and near-infrared range.

Si-Rhodamines are bright fluorophores with red to near-infrared (NIR) emission, and are widely used for fluorescence imaging of biological phenomena. Here, in order to extend the scope of Si-rhodamine fluorophores, we established a versatile synthesis of unsymmetrical Si-rhodamines. To illustrate its value, we used one of these new fluorophores to synthesize a far-red to NIR fluorescence probe for hypoxia, and showed that it can visualize hepatic ischemia in mice in vivo.

Near‐infrared (NIR) imaging techniques have attracted significant attention for biological and medicinal applications due to the ability of NIR to penetrate deeply into tissues. However, there are very few stable, activatable molecular probes that can utilize NIR light in the wavelength range beyond 800 nm. Herein, we report a new activatable NIR system for photoacoustic imaging based on tautomeric benziphthalocyanines (BPcs). We found that the existence of a free hydroxyl group is crucial for NIR absorption of BPcs. Synthesized water‐soluble hydroxy BPcs exhibited high photostability and no fluorescence, which are desirable features for photoacoustic imaging. We synthesized BPcs in which the free hydroxyl group was masked by an esterase‐labile or an H2O2‐labile group. The photoacoustic signals of these hydroxy‐masked BPcs were increased upon NIR excitation at 880 nm in the presence of esterase or H2O2, respectively. These are rare examples of activatable probes utilizing NIR light at around 900 nm.