Fluorescent dyes articles within Nature Chemistry

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    The design of photoactivatable fluorophores—which are required for some super-resolution fluorescence microscopy methods—usually relies on light-sensitive protecting groups imparting lipophilicity and generating reactive by-products. Now, it has been shown that by exploiting a unique intramolecular photocyclization, bright and highly photostable fluorophores can be rapidly generated in situ from appropriately substituted 1-alkenyl-3,6-diaminoxanthone precursors.

    • Richard Lincoln
    • , Mariano L. Bossi
    •  & Stefan W. Hell
  • Article |

    It is difficult to develop suitable fluorescent probes for live-cell nanoscopy, but a general strategy is now reported that can transform regular fluorophores into fluorogenic probes with excellent cell permeability and low unspecific background signals. Using this approach, probes in a variety of colours were developed for different cellular targets and used for wash-free, multicolour, live-cell confocal and STED microscopy.

    • Lu Wang
    • , Mai Tran
    •  & Kai Johnsson