Click chemistry for fluorescence imaging via combination of a BODIPY-based ‘turn-on’ probe and a norbornene glucosamine

In the present study, we synthesized a novel near-infrared turn-on BODIPY probe and a new norbornene-modified glucosamine derivative. The probe exhibits a significant NIR fluorescence emission with a turn-on response and can perform tumour-specific imaging in tumour-bearing mice. The non-natural glucosamine provides metabolic glycoengineering labelling. It can be expressed on cells as chemical tags and further reacted with fluorescence dyes for cell labelling. The combination of the two derivatives enables quick and sensitive cell imaging in vitro and in vivo using the iEDDA reaction.