High performance NIR fluorescent silica nanoparticles for bioimaging

We synthesized a new alkoxysilane-functionalized perylenediimide (PDI) dye with fluorescence emission in the near infrared (NIR). Incorporation of the dye into silica nanoparticles and subsequent internalization in living cells shows promising results for application in confocal laser scanning microscopy, allowing simultaneous imaging with other commonly used dyes or fluorescent proteins.