Novel Near-Infrared Iridium(III) Complex for Chemiluminescence Imaging of Hypochlorous Acid

Chemiluminescence (CL) probes that possess near-infrared(NIR)emission are highly desirable for in vivo imaging due to their deepertissue penetration ability and intrinsically high sensitivity. Herein,a novel iridium-based CL probe (NIRIr-CL-1) with directNIR emission was reported as the result of hypochlorous acid (HClO)-initiatedoxidative deoximation. To improve its biocompatibility and extendthe CL time for in vivo imaging applications, this NIRIr-CL-1 was prepared as a CL nanoparticle probe (NIRIr-CL-1 dots) through encapsulation by an amphiphilic polymer Pluronic F127(F127). All results demonstrate that the NIRIr-CL-1 dots have good selectivity and sensitivity for visualization of HClOeven at the depth of 1.2 cm. Owing to these advantages, the CL imagingof exogenous and endogenous HClO in mice was achieved. This studycould provide new insights into the construction of new NIR emissionCL probes and expand their applications in biomedical imaging.