In this work, we
described the synthesis of 10 new fluorescent
2,1,3-benzoselenadiazole small-molecule derivatives and their chemical-
and photocharacterizations. The new derivatives could, for the first
time, be successfully applied as selective live cell imaging probes
(at nanomolar concentrations) and stained lipid-based structures preferentially.
Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to help in
understanding the photophysical data and the intramolecular charge-transfer
(ICT) processes of the synthesized dyes. Some derivatives showed impressive
cellular responses, allowing them to be tested as probes in a complex
multicellular model (i.e., Caenorhabditis elegans). When compared with the commercially available dye, the new fluorescent
compounds showed far better results both at the cellular level and
inside the live worm. Inside the multicellular complex model, the
tested probes also showed selectivity, a feature not observed when
the commercial dye was used to carry out the bioimaging experiments.