Xanthene dyes are repurposed for photoacoustic (PA) imaging by the introduction of an sp2 hybridized ketone group. The new dyes exhibit remarkable PA signal at 860 nm and can be multiplexed with indocyanine green (ICG) in blood.

No abstract

Photoacoustic (PA) imaging is a powerful biomedical imaging modality. We designed KeTMR and KeJuR, two xanthene-based dyes that readily obtained through a 2-step synthetic route. KeJuR has low molecular weight, good aqueous solubility, and superior chemical stability compared to KeTMR. KeJuR shows robust PA signal at 860 nm excitation and can be paired with traditional PA dyes for multiplex imaging in blood samples under tissue-mimicking environment.