Dual-state emission probes with a decahydroquinoline-naphthalimide skeleton for cells and tissue imaging at low concentration

Abstract

Polarity-sensitive probes 1a–1c exhibit dual-state emission (DSE) by increasing the twist angle between auxochrome and fluorogen. They can target specific organelles at 200 nM and distinguish cancer cells from normal cells. More importantly, the probes have the ability to differentiate the liver cancer tissue at different stages of differentiation.