Small-Molecule Lanthanide Complexes Probe for Second Near-Infrared Window Bioimaging

Over the past few years, significant efforts have been made to create new fluorescent probes operating at longer wavelengths, particularly in the second near-infrared (NIR-II) window from 1000 to 1700 nm, offering enhanced tissue penetration compared to light in the visible and first near-infrared window (700–900 nm). However, most of the reported NIR-II fluorophores meet such dilemmas; they are excreted slowly and largely retained within the reticuloendothelial system. Here, we report a rapidly excreted NIR-II lanthanide complex Nd-DOTA (over 50% excreted through the kidneys within 3 h postinjection) with a molecular mass only 0.54 kDa. The NIR-II imaging quality of Nd-DOTA was far superior to that of clinically approved ICG with good photostability and deep tissue penetration (7 mm). Superior tumor-to-normal tissue ratio was successfully achieved to facilitate the abdominal ovarian metastases surgical delineation. Metastases with ≤1 mm can be completely excised under NIR-II bioimaging guidance. Significantly, since the Nd-DOTA structure is same to the clinically approved magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast Gd-DOTA, it will speed up the clinical translation for this novel kind of NIR-II probes in the future.