Fluorescence imaging of presynaptic uptake and release of styryl dyes such as FM1-43 has provided valuable insights into synaptic function. However, in studies of CNS neurons, the utility of these dyes has been severely limited by nonsynaptic background fluorescence. This has thwarted the use of FM dyes in systems more intact than dissociated neuronal cultures. Here, we describe an approach to ...

Fabrication of nano-sized objects is one of the most important issues in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Soft nanomaterials with flexible properties have been given much attention and can be obtained through bottom-up processing from functional molecules, where self-assembly based on supramolecular chemistry and designed assembly have become crucial processes and techniques. Among the various f...

The ground-state structure and frontier molecular orbital of D-π-A organic dyes, CFT1A, CFT2A, and CFT1PA were theoretically investigated using density functional theory (DFT) on B3LYP functional with 6-31G(d,p) basis set. The vertical excitation energies and absorption spectra were obtained using time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT). The adsorptions of these dyes on TiO(2) anatase (101) were carried ou...

Nickel dithiolene dyes, noted for their intense long-wavelength electronic transitions, have been notoriously dificult molecules to model. This study has investigated the use of timedependent density functional theory (TDDFT) to model these dyes. The absorption spectra of an extensive set of near-infrared nickel dithiolene dyes have been evaluated for the first time using TDDFT. Bulk solvent ef...

To examine the strengths and limitations of the time-dependent density functional theory in calculating the absorption wavelengths of dye, 130, non-radical, radical and biradical coloured organic compounds, including perylenimide, porphyrin, azobenzene, quinone, croconaine, squaraine and push–pull-type colorants, were randomly selected. The first intense electronic transitions were satisfactori...

In vivo Ca2+ imaging of neuronal populations in deep cortical layers has remained a major challenge, as the recording depth of two-photon microscopy is limited because of the scattering and absorption of photons in brain tissue. A possible strategy to increase the imaging depth is the use of red-shifted fluorescent dyes, as scattering of photons is reduced at long wavelengths. Here, we tested t...

Addition of a single functional handle to the tricyclic moiety of fluorescein results in asymmetric xanthene dyes. Our synthesis of a new class of asymmetric xanthenes proceeds via an unusual SNAr with sulfur nucleophiles on electron rich aromatic xanthenes scaffolds in the absence of a metal catalyst. The resulting 3'-thioethers exhibit high photostability and are conveniently converted into r...