Département de chimie moléculaire

Responsive luminescent probes emitting in the near-IR (NIR) are in high demand today for biol. applications as they allow for the easy and unambiguous discrimination of autofluorescence. Due to their luminescence properties, lanthanide ions offer an interesting alternative to classical org. fluorescent dyes. This has stimulated the development of lanthanide-based responsive probes. Nevertheless, responsive probes that can operate in water with NIR-emitting lanthanide ions are scarce. In this communication, zinc fingers are shown to be versatile scaffolds to elaborate a variety of Zn2+-responsive probes based on lanthanide emission and featuring desirable properties for the selective detection of Zn2+ in exptl. conditions close to cellular. Of special interest is a NIR-emitting probe relying on Nd3+ emission. [on SciFinder(R)]