Development of an open-type water-soluble near-infrared chemiluminescent material inspired by luciferin

Abstract

Chemiluminescence has been widely adopted in bioimaging as a non-invasive technique. However, its effectiveness is often limited by the poor penetration of short-wavelength emitted light. To address this challenge, most current long-wavelength chemiluminescence methods involve mixing chemiluminescent agents with long-wavelength fluorescent dyes. Nevertheless, their efficiency is constrained by energy transfer limitations from the chemiluminescent agents to the dyes. This study introduces the development of open-type direct near-infrared chemiluminescent materials, inspired by the enol-degradation reaction of luciferin, which mimics the bioluminescent mechanism found in fireflies. We systematically investigated the near-infrared chemiluminescent properties using emission, absorption, and photoluminescence spectra analyses. Additionally, we prepared water-soluble near-infrared chemiluminescent nanoparticles for further applications in bioimaging.