Back Cover: Nanographenes: Ultrastable, Switchable, and Bright Probes for Super‐Resolution Microscopy (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 1/2020)

Nanographene: ultrastabile, schaltbare und helle Sonden für die hochauflösende Mikroskopie

Rücktitelbild: Nanographene: ultrastabile, schaltbare und helle Sonden für die hochauflösende Mikroskopie (Angew. Chem. 1/2020)

Nanographenes: Ultrastable, Switchable, and Bright Probes for Super-Resolution Microscopy.

Abstract Super‐resolution fluorescence microscopy has enabled important breakthroughs in biology and materials science. Implementations such as single‐molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) and minimal emission fluxes (MINFLUX) microscopy in the localization mode exploit fluorophores that blink, i.e., switch on and off, stochastically. Here, we introduce nanographenes, namely large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that can also be regarded as atomically precise graphene quantum dots, as a new class of fluorophores for super‐resolution fluorescence microscopy. Nanographenes exhibit outstanding photophysical properties: intrinsic blinking even in air, excellent fluorescence recovery, and sta…

A Highly Luminescent Nitrogen-Doped Nanographene as an Acid- and Metal-Sensitive Fluorophore for Optical Imaging.

Dibenzo[hi,st]ovalene (DBOV) has excellent photophysical properties, including strong fluorescence and high ambient stability. Moreover, the optical blinking properties of DBOV have enabled optical super-resolution single-molecule localization microscopy with an imaging resolution beyond the diffraction limit. Various organic and inorganic fluorescent probes have been developed for super-resolution imaging, but those sensitive to pH and/or metal ions have remained elusive. Here, we report a diaza-derivative of DBOV (N-DBOV), synthesized in eight steps with a total yield of 15%. Nitrogen (N)-bearing zigzag edges were formed through oxidative cyclization of amino groups in the last step. UV-v…