Ultrabright NIR-II fluorophores enabled by noncovalent conformational locking for in vivo inflammation imaging.

Authors

Xiaofei Miao, Mingxuan Jia, Weiyun Yao, Ruizhe Chen, Xiaomei Lu, Zizi Wu, Wenbo Hu, Quli Fan

Published in

Science advances. Volume 12. Issue 38. Pages eaeh5112. Sep 18, 2026. Epub Sep 16, 2026.

Abstract

Ultrabright fluorophores emitting in the second near-infrared (NIR-II, 1000-1700 nm) window are highly desirable for biomedical and optoelectronic applications but remain rare, because fluorescence brightness requires the simultaneous realization of a large absorption coefficient (ε) and a high photoluminescence quantum yield (Φ_PL), two parameters that are inherently difficult to balance. Here, we develop an ultrabright semiconducting polymer fluorophore (P1) via a simple noncovalent conformational locking strategy that enforces a rigid and planar backbone with small dihedral angles. This design extends π-conjugation to boost ε and Φ_PL while effectively suppressing aggregation-caused quenching in P1 nanoparticles (P1 NPs). Compared to its unlocked analogue, P1 NPs exhibits a notable 360 nm redshift towards NIR-II emission, together with intensified ε and elevated Φ_PL. These properties afford P1 NPs 10-fold enhancement in NIR-II brightness relative to reported polymer fluorophores, enabling high-resolution vascular imaging and precise inflammation localization. These findings represent a significant design advance in creating ultrabright fluorophores for bioimaging and optoelectronic applications.

PMID:
42748240
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 17 Sep 2026.

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