Plasma membrane-anchored fluorescent tracker based on boron-dipyrromethene

Abstract

The construction of a stable-membrane tracker has significant implications for the visualization of the membrane in live cells. However, most current plasma trackers are not suitable for tracking plasma membranes for a long time due to their limited retention time. Herein, Mem580-F-Sulfo is designed to target and anchor cell membranes and therefore track cell membranes for a longer time. This tracker is composed of a lipophilic boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) derivative and a hydrophilic zwitterion to form an amphiphilic structure, which enables its targeting ability toward cell membranes. Moreover, a reactive ester group is included to bind with proteins through covalent bonds in cell membranes non-specifically, which extends retention time in cell membranes. Mem580-F-Sulfo shows intense brightness (94600), with a high molar absorption coefficient of up to about 100000 L·mol⁻¹·cm⁻¹ and a fluorescence quantum yield of up to 0.97. It shows fast cell membrane targeting ability and long retention up to 90 min. In brief, this work has not only developed a tracker with good cell membrane targetability but also provided a new strategy for improving the targeting stability of cell membranes.