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Ultra-photostable small-molecule dyes facilitate near-infrared biophotonics
Near-infrared small molecule dyes are attractive in biophotonics, but generally rely on expanded aromatic structures to achieve this redshift. Here the authors report the use of a ground state antiaromatic strategy for 14 aminofluorene dyes, and their use in imaging kidney injury.
- Kui Yan
- , Zhubin Hu
- & Fan Zhang
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| Open Access
Noise learning of instruments for high-contrast, high-resolution and fast hyperspectral microscopy and nanoscopy
Improving signal to noise ratio of Raman spectra is vital for the application. Here, authors show a noise learning method that learns the noise feature of a spectrometer. This improves the signal to noise ratio and makes deep learning to be instrument dependent instead of sample dependent.
- Hao He
- , Maofeng Cao
- & Bin Ren
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Direct probing of single-molecule chemiluminescent reaction dynamics under catalytic conditions in solution
Research into the dynamics of chemical reactions at the single-molecule level is a pivotal undertaking. Here, the authors present a direct investigation of the chemiluminescent reaction dynamics of single molecules in solution, providing spatiotemporally resolved insights into chemical reactions.
- Ziqing Zhang
- , Jinrun Dong
- & Jiandong Feng
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| Open Access
On-tissue dataset-dependent MALDI-TIMS-MS2 bioimaging
There is a need for dataset-dependent MS2 acquisition in trapped ion mobility spectrometry imaging. Here the authors report spatial ion mobility-scheduled exhaustive fragmentation (SIMSEF) which enables on-tissue metabolite and lipid annotation in mass spectrometry bioimaging studies, and use this to visualise the chemical space in rat brains.
- Steffen Heuckeroth
- , Arne Behrens
- & Robin Schmid
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Dynamic imaging of interfacial electrochemistry on single Ag nanowires by azimuth-modulated plasmonic scattering interferometry
Direct visualization of the chemical dynamics of surfaces in solution is essential to gain mechanistic insights into nanocatalysis and electrochemistry. Here, the authors demonstrate the imaging of dynamic interfacial changes on a single nanowire during chemical reactions using azimuthally modulated plasmonic scattering interferometry.
- Gang Wu
- , Chen Qian
- & Xian-Wei Liu
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In situ orderly self-assembly strategy affording NIR-II-J-aggregates for in vivo imaging and surgical navigation
J-aggregation, is an effective strategy to extend the wavelength of organic NIR-II fluorescence dyes but weak intermolecular interactions often lead to decomposition of the aggregates in biological environment. Here, the authors demonstrate a series of activatable quinazoline derivatives which can self-assemble in vivo into highly stable NIR-IIJ-aggregates.
- Zhe Li
- , Ping-Zhao Liang
- & Xiao-Bing Zhang
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Investigating microstructure evolution of lithium metal during plating and stripping via operando X-ray tomographic microscopy
Understanding the plating and stripping behaviours of lithium metal is crucial for high-energy battery development. Here, authors track these electrochemical processes in real time by an operando synchrotron X-ray tomographic microscopy, revealing the formation of inactive lithium microstructures.
- Matthew Sadd
- , Shizhao Xiong
- & Aleksandar Matic
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Plasmonic imaging of the layer-dependent electrocatalytic activity of two-dimensional catalysts
Probing the localized electrocatalytic activity of heterogeneous electrocatalysts is crucial. Here, the authors propose a method of imaging the surface charge density and electrocatalytic activity of single two-dimensional electrocatalyst nanosheets.
- Xiaona Zhao
- , Xiao-Li Zhou
- & Xian-Wei Liu
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Orthogonally-tunable and ER-targeting fluorophores detect avian influenza virus early infection
Methods to detect and distinguish the early stage of viral infection often involve complicated and time-consuming protocols. Here, the authors disclose a class of fluorescent molecules that enable fast detection of avian influenza virus infection by selectively localizing at the endoplasmic reticulum in the cell.
- Taewon Kang
- , Md Mamunul Haque
- & Dongwhan Lee
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Understanding the lithium–sulfur battery redox reactions via operando confocal Raman microscopy
The complex redox processes in lithium–sulfur batteries are not yet fully understood at the fundamental level. Here, the authors report operando confocal Raman microscopy measurements to provide mechanistic insights into polysulfide evolution and sulfur deposition during battery cycling.
- Shuangyan Lang
- , Seung-Ho Yu
- & Héctor D. Abruña
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| Open Access
Acceptor engineering for NIR-II dyes with high photochemical and biomedical performance
Small molecule NIR-II fluorophores are of interest for a range of applications but can suffer from chemical and photostability issues. Here, the authors report on the development of an acceptor molecule with improved stability in alkaline conditions expanding the range of possible applications.
- Aiyan Ji
- , Hongyue Lou
- & Zhen Cheng
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Bioorthogonally activatable cyanine dye with torsion-induced disaggregation for in vivo tumor imaging
Expanding the responsive dyes repertoire is currently a developing field in biorthogonal chemistry. In this article, the authors develop fluorophores that turn on their near-infrared fluorescence upon biorthogonal reaction based on a “torsion-induced disaggregation” approach, allowing for sensitive in vivo imaging of tumors.
- Xianghan Zhang
- , Jingkai Gao
- & Zhongliang Wang
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A synergistic strategy to develop photostable and bright dyes with long Stokes shift for nanoscopy
Super-resolution microscopy is a powerful tool for cellular studies but requires bright and stable fluorescent probes. Here, the authors report on a strategy to introduce quinoxaline motifs to conventional probes to make them brighter, more photostable, larger Stokes shift, and demonstrate the probes for biosensing applications.
- Gangwei Jiang
- , Tian-Bing Ren
- & Lin Yuan
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In-situ nanospectroscopic imaging of plasmon-induced two-dimensional [4+4]-cycloaddition polymerization on Au(111)
Here, the authors use tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for in-situ investigation of plasmon-induced [4+4]-cycloaddition polymerization on Au(111). They find that this occurs by a hot electron tunneling mechanism, while crosslinks form via a self-stimulating growth mechanism.
- Feng Shao
- , Wei Wang
- & Renato Zenobi
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Visualization of gaseous iodine adsorption on single zeolitic imidazolate framework-90 particles
Zeolitic imidazolate frameworks are promising as high-capacity iodine adsorbents. Here the authors image the gaseous I2 adsorption on single ZIF-90 particles, clarifying the inter-particle heterogeneity in adsorption reactivity and performance improvement after introduction of linker defects .
- Yuting Lei
- , Guihua Zhang
- & Yi He
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Article
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Critical angle reflection imaging for quantification of molecular interactions on glass surface
Here, the authors present a method for quantifying molecular interactions on a glass surface, based on measuring surface refractive index changes via the reflectivity near the critical angle. They demonstrate tunable sensitivity and dynamic range, deep vertical sensing range, also for intracellular signals.
- Guangzhong Ma
- , Runli Liang
- & Shaopeng Wang
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| Open Access
Facilitation of molecular motion to develop turn-on photoacoustic bioprobe for detecting nitric oxide in encephalitis
Nitric oxide plays key roles in regulating many pathological processes and it is important to monitor NO and related diseases. Here, the authors report on the development of a molecular motion based NO responsive photoacoustic probe and demonstrate application in detecting encephalitis in vivo.
- Ji Qi
- , Leyan Feng
- & Ben Zhong Tang
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Upconversion NIR-II fluorophores for mitochondria-targeted cancer imaging and photothermal therapy
Currently available mitochondria-targeted fluorescent dyes emit only one color in the visible or NIR-I and their applications are limited. Here, the authors develop upconversion mitochondria-targeted NIR-II fluorophores for synchronous upconversion-mitochondria-targeted cell imaging, in vivo NIR-II osteosarcoma imaging and photothermal efficiency
- Hui Zhou
- , Xiaodong Zeng
- & Yuling Xiao
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Optical imaging of single-protein size, charge, mobility, and binding
Protein identification at the single-molecule level is the ultimate goal for biological research and disease diagnosis. Here, the authors identify the size, charge, mobility, and binding of individual protein molecules by measuring the optical and electrical responses of each protein molecule tethered to a surface.
- Guangzhong Ma
- , Zijian Wan
- & Nongjian Tao
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NIR-II bioluminescence for in vivo high contrast imaging and in situ ATP-mediated metastases tracing
Conventional bioluminescence imaging usually operates in the visible region and its performance is limited by strong tissue absorption and scattering. Here, the authors present bioluminescence probes (BPs) with emission in the second near infrared (NIR-II) region, and show the NIR-II-BPs could sensitively recognize tumor metastasis with a high tumor-to-normal tissue ratio.
- Lingfei Lu
- , Benhao Li
- & Fan Zhang
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Organic NIR-II molecule with long blood half-life for in vivo dynamic vascular imaging
Optical bioimaging in the second near-infrared (NIR-II, 1000–1700 nm) window exhibits abundant advantages. Here the authors report an organic NIR-II molecule with long blood circulation half-life time for continuous real-time monitoring of dynamic vascular processes.
- Benhao Li
- , Mengyao Zhao
- & Fan Zhang
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In situ mapping of activity distribution and oxygen evolution reaction in vanadium flow batteries
Redox flow batteries are attractive for large-scale energy storage, but electrode activity should be better understood to improve electrochemical performance. Here the authors map the surface activity distribution of a vanadium redox flow battery electrode with spatial resolution of a single fiber.
- Kaijie Ma
- , Yunong Zhang
- & Yonghong He
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| Open Access
Fermi level-tuned optics of graphene for attocoulomb-scale quantification of electron transfer at single gold nanoparticles
Measurement of single-molecule level electron transfer is restricted by detection limits in nanoampere to picoampere ranges. Here the authors develop graphene-based electrochemical microscopy to attain an attoampere-level detection limit for faraday current at single nanoparticles.
- Qing Xia
- , Zixuan Chen
- & Jun-Jie Zhu
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Nanosecond electron pulses in the analytical electron microscopy of a fast irreversible chemical reaction
Detailed knowledge of the transition states and kinetics of fast reactions in nanoparticles is desirable for many applications, but challenging to access. Here the authors obtain insight in nickel oxide reduction, using single-shot electron pulses in an electron microscope with nanosecond resolution.
- Shyam K. Sinha
- , Amir Khammari
- & Florian Banhart
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In-situ electron microscopy mapping of an order-disorder transition in a superionic conductor
Solid-solid phase transitions are processes ripe for the discovery of correlated atomic motion in crystals. Here, the authors monitor an order-disorder transition in real-time in a single nanoparticle of the super-ionic solid, cuprous selenide, using in-situ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy.
- Jaeyoung Heo
- , Daniel Dumett Torres
- & Prashant K. Jain
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Tomographic and multimodal scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy with peak force tapping mode
Scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) offers nanometer-scale spatial resolution, but generally does not retain tomographic information. Here, Wang et al. develop peak-force SNOM to section scattered fields and improve imaging resolution.
- Haomin Wang
- , Le Wang
- & Xiaoji G. Xu
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The influence of the molecular packing on the room temperature phosphorescence of purely organic luminogens
Organic luminogens with persistent room temperature phosphorescence will find wide applications in optoelectronic devices and bioimaging, but they are still scarce. Here, the authors synthesize seven organic luminogens and investigate their different properties and potential imaging applications.
- Jie Yang
- , Xu Zhen
- & Zhen Li
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A bioreducible N-oxide-based probe for photoacoustic imaging of hypoxia
Hypoxia is a hallmark of many diseases including cancer and ischemia, and detection can be invasive and of low resolution and specificity. Here the authors show a hypoxia probe that converts non-ionizing light to ultrasound, which enables the acquisition of high-resolution 3D images in deep tissue.
- Hailey J. Knox
- , Jamila Hedhli
- & Jefferson Chan
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Quantitative volumetric Raman imaging of three dimensional cell cultures
Advances in chemical imaging capability can add to our understanding of complex cellular systems. Here the authors develop a framework for label-free quantitative volumetric Raman spectroscopic imaging and use it to visualize and quantify biomolecules in various 3D cellular systems.
- Charalambos Kallepitis
- , Mads S. Bergholt
- & Molly M. Stevens
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| Open Access
A microRNA-initiated DNAzyme motor operating in living cells
Synthetic DNA nanomachines have been designed to perform a variety of tasksin vitro. Here, the authors build a nanomotor system that integrates a DNAzyme and DNA track on a gold nanoparticle, to facilitate cellular uptake, and apply it as a real-time miRNA imaging tool in living cells.
- Hanyong Peng
- , Xing-Fang Li
- & X. Chris Le
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Phase transformation mechanism in lithium manganese nickel oxide revealed by single-crystal hard X-ray microscopy
As an intercalation electrode material for lithium ion batteries, spinel LixMn1.5Ni0.5O4possesses a metastable nature during the electrochemical operation. Here the authors reveal the phase transformation mechanism by using single-crystal hard X-ray microscopy to detect the local phase distribution.
- Saravanan Kuppan
- , Yahong Xu
- & Guoying Chen
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Article
| Open Access
Industrial-scale separation of high-purity single-chirality single-wall carbon nanotubes for biological imaging
Single-chirality, single-wall carbon nanotubes are attractive for bioimaging applications, however large-scale separation remains a challenge. Here, the authors utilize mixed surfactants for high-resolution single-chirality separation of (9,4) SWCNTs, demonstrating their improved performance for bioimaging.
- Yohei Yomogida
- , Takeshi Tanaka
- & Hiromichi Kataura
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| Open Access
Development of background-free tame fluorescent probes for intracellular live cell imaging
The success of a fluorescent dye as a molecular probe to monitor the intracellular activity of biomolecules depends on its physicochemical characteristics. Here, the authors use a predictive model to identify key features that allow them to design cell permeable, background-free fluorescent probes.
- Samira Husen Alamudi
- , Rudrakanta Satapathy
- & Young-Tae Chang
Photoswitchable polyynes for multiplexed stimulated Raman scattering microscopy with reversible light control