北京大学陈知行研究团队报道了一组桥接的自行车强化荧光团。2025年5月19日出版的《自然—方法学》发表了这项成果。

在这里，该课题组研究人员报告了一种通过利用SO₂和O取代的氮杂环[3.2.1]辛烷辅助色素系统地提高供体-受体型荧光团（如罗丹明）性能的一般策略。这些双环杂环产生了一系列跨越紫外线和可见光范围的“桥接”染料（BD），具有一流的量子效率，增强的水溶性和可调节的细胞渗透性。值得注意的是，与四甲基或氮杂啶类似物相比，这些氮杂环荧光团表现出显著的光稳定性，同时完全抗氧化光变蓝。功能化的BD染料适用于固定或活的哺乳动物和植物细胞的单分子成像、超分辨率成像（STED和SIM）、活的斑马鱼成像和化学发生电压成像。

研究人员表示，有机荧光团是先进生物成像的基石。为了寻找具有理想性质的分子，人们对荧光团广阔的化学空间进行了广泛的探索。然而，在目前的分子限制下，似乎在高亮度、高光稳定性和可调生化特性之间存在权衡。

附：英文原文

Title: A palette of bridged bicycle-strengthened fluorophores

Author: Zhang, Junwei, Zhang, Kecheng, Wang, Kui, Wang, Bo, Zhu, Siyan, Qian, Hongping, Ma, Yumiao, Zhang, Mengling, Liu, Tianyan, Chen, Peng, Shen, Yuan, Fu, Yunzhe, Fang, Shilin, Zhang, Xinxin, Zou, Peng, Deng, Wulan, Mu, Yu, Chen, Zhixing

Issue&Volume: 2025-05-19

Abstract: Organic fluorophores are the keystone of advanced biological imaging. The vast chemical space of fluorophores has been extensively explored in search of molecules with ideal properties. However, within the current molecular constraints, there appears to be a trade-off between high brightness, robust photostability, and tunable biochemical properties. Herein we report a general strategy to systematically boost the performance of donor-acceptor-type fluorophores, such as rhodamines, by leveraging SO2 and O-substituted azabicyclo[3.2.1] octane auxochromes. These bicyclic heterocycles give rise to a collection of ‘bridged’ dyes (BD) spanning the ultraviolet and visible range with top-notch quantum efficiencies, enhanced water solubility, and tunable cell-permeability. Notably, these azabicyclic fluorophores showed remarkable photostability compared to their tetramethyl or azetidine analogs while being completely resistant to oxidative photoblueing. Functionalized BD dyes are tailored for applications in single-molecule imaging, super-resolution imaging (STED and SIM) in fixed or live mammalian and plant cells, and live zebrafish imaging and chemogenetic voltage imaging.

DOI: 10.1038/s41592-025-02693-4

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-025-02693-4