Silicon-substituted rhodamines for stimulated emission depletion fluorescence nanoscopy

As an essential part in the toolbox of super-resolution microscopy, stimulated emission depletion (STED) nanoscopy has been widely explored in revealing the substructure and bioactivities in fluorescence imaging. Among the applied STED fluorophores, silicon-substituted rhodamines (SiRs) belong to one of the most extensively employed fluorophores. The carboxy-SiR was favored in STED bioimaging with many advantages, including reliable photostability, cell permeability, tunable fluorogenicity, feasible structural decoration and so on. We reviewed the research of carboxy-SiR in the STED nanoscopy and hopefully this can inspire more efforts in the design and application of STED fluorophores. (C) 2021 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.