TY - JOUR A1 - Matthias, Jessica A1 - Kanagasundaram, Thines A1 - Kopka, Klaus A1 - Kramer, Carsten S. T1 - Synthesis of a dihalogenated pyridinyl silicon rhodamine for mitochondrial imaging by a halogen dance rearrangement JF - Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry PY - 2019/// VL - 15 SP - 2333 EP - 2343 SN - 1860-5397 DO - 10.3762/bjoc.15.226 PB - Beilstein-Institut JA - Beilstein J. Org. Chem. UR - https://doi.org/10.3762/bjoc.15.226 KW - halogen-dance reaction KW - mitochondrial probe KW - near-infrared (NIR) dyes KW - one-pot reaction KW - silicon rhodamines N2 - Background: Since their first synthesis, silicon xanthenes and the subsequently developed silicon rhodamines (SiR) gained a lot of attention as attractive fluorescence dyes offering a broad field of application. We aimed for the synthesis of a fluorinable pyridinyl silicon rhodamine for the use in multimodal (PET/OI) medical imaging of mitochondria in cancerous cells.Results: A dihalogenated fluorinatable pyridinyl rhodamine could be successfully synthesized with the high yield of 85% by application of a halogen dance (HD) rearrangement. The near-infrared dye shows a quantum yield of 0.34, comparable to other organelle targeting SiR derivatives and absorbs at 665 nm (εmax = 34 000 M−1cm−1) and emits at 681 nm (τ = 1.9 ns). Using colocalization experiments with MitoTracker® Green FM, we could prove the intrinsic targeting ability to mitochondria in two human cell lines (Pearson coefficient >0.8). The dye is suitable for live cell STED nanoscopy imaging and shows a nontoxic profile which makes it an appropriate candidate for medical imaging.Conclusions: We present a biocompatible, nontoxic, small molecule near-infrared dye with the option of subsequent radiolabelling and excellent optical properties for medical and bioimaging. As a compound with intrinsic mitochondria targeting ability, the radiolabelled analogue can be applied in multimodal (PET/OI) imaging of mitochondria for diagnostic and therapeutic use in, e.g., cancer patients. ER -