Two-photon Dyes and Nucleic Acid Detection
Frédéric Bolze, Jacques Lux, Eduardo Peña, Manfred Heinlein, Man Shing Wong and Jean-François Nicoud
Two-photon excited microscopy (TPEM) has evolved in the past few years as an important tool for revealing living processes in cells and organisms. Since fluorophores used in epi-fluorescence or confocal microscopy have limited sensitivity in TPEM in biological media, chemists and biologists attempt to design new fluorochromes for this application. Here the engineering of dyes for the specific detection of DNA and RNA molecules is a great challenge. We describe here the conception, preparation, and characterization of new two-photon-sensitive fluorochromes that are derived from cyanine and malachite green dyes and are specific for the detection of DNA and RNA respectively.
Keywords: Two-photon absorption, Two-photon microscopy, Nucleic acid, RNA detection, DNA detection, Aptamer.