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RESEARCH PRODUCT

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

Christoph CremerChristoph CremerXiaomin LiuKatharina LandfesterMischa BonnSachin KumarSachin KumarQiang ChenSandra RitzShih-ya ChenXuelin YaoSapun H. ParekhSapun H. ParekhMárton GellériAkimitsu NaritaAkimitsu NaritaKlaus MüllenKlaus Müllen

subject

Materials sciencenanographenes010405 organic chemistrySuper-resolution microscopyGrapheneNanotechnologyGeneral ChemistryChromophore010402 general chemistry01 natural sciencesFluorescenceCatalysis0104 chemical scienceslaw.inventionlawQuantum dotSuper‐Resolution ImagingMicroscopyFluorescence microscopechromophoresfluorescenceblinkingResearch Articlessuper-resolution imagingResearch Article

description

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 stability over several months. As a proof of concept for super‐resolution applications, we use nanographenes in SMLM to generate 3D super‐resolution images of silica nanocracks. Our findings open the door for the widespread application of nanographenes in super‐resolution fluorescence microscopy.

yearjournalcountryeditionlanguage
2019-07-24Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English)
10.1002/anie.201909220https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31657497