A laser markable article includes a first laser markable layer capable of forming a colour upon exposure to UV radiation, a second and optionally a third laser markable layer capable of forming a colour upon exposure to IR radiation, wherein the second or third laser markable layer includes a specific polymethine infrared radiation absorbing dye (IR dye). A colour laser marking method includes forming a first colour upon exposure to UV radiation and a second and optionally a third colour upon exposure to IR radiation.

The present invention relates to compositions for and methods of optically imaging tissues or cells using imaging agents having desirable in vivo properties that result in improved signal-to-background ratio.

The invention relates to a family of compounds that comprise fluorescent cyanine dyes. The compounds are near infrared absorbing heptamethine cyanine dyes with a 4,4-disubstituted cyclohexyl ring as part of the polymethine chromophore. The compounds are generally hydrophilic and can be chemically linked to biomolecules, such as proteins, nucleic acids, and therapeutic small molecules. The compounds can be used for imaging in a variety of medical, biological and diagnostic applications.

The present invention relates to dye compounds represented by Formulae I and II, which are described in the specification. The dye compounds of the present invention have markedly improved quantum yields and emit strong fluorescence compared to existing cyanine dyes. Due to these advantages, the dye compounds of the present invention can find applications in various fields, for example, as probes for various biological systems where optical imaging is required. Particularly, the dye compounds of the present invention can be used as mitotrackers capable of labeling and tracking mitochondria. Therefore, the dye compounds of the present invention can be used to quantitatively image mitochondria in live tissues and cells. Furthermore, the dye compounds of the present invention can be applied as pH probes for measuring the pH of live cells.

The present disclosure embodies compounds, methods, and kits that are useful in connection with the detection of analytes of all types (e.g., biological molecules such as proteins, organic molecules, natural or synthetic molecules). The disclosure is particularly applicable to detection of proteins and nucleic acids using all types of membrane-based assays by techniques such as Western blotting, Dot blotting, Southern blotting, and Northern blotting.

The invention provides a novel class of cyanine dyes that are functionalized with sulfonic acid groups and a linker moiety that facilitates their conjugation to other species and substituent groups which increase the water-solubility, and optimize the optical properties of the dyes. Also provided are conjugates of the dyes, methods of using the dyes and their conjugates and kits including the dyes and their conjugates.

The present invention relates to the field of optical imaging. More particularly, it relates to a class of monoalkylated cyanine dyes with red to near-infrared (650-900 nm) emission characterized by pH responsiveness and to conjugates with biological ligands thereof. The invention also relates to the use of these compounds as optical diagnostic agents in imaging or therapy of solid tumors, to the methods for their preparation and to the compositions comprising them. The monoalkylated cyanine dyes have general formula (I) wherein R1 and R3 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, -SO3H, COOH and CONHY; and R2 and R4 are hydrogen, or both R1 together with R2 and R3 together with R4, respectively and with the atoms to which they are bonded, form two aryl rings, optionally substituted with from 1 to 4 -SO3H groups; R5 is an alkyl optionally substituted by a group selected from SO3H, COOH and CONH2.

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Disclosed is a fluorescently labeled polysaccharide. The fluorescently labeled polysaccharide is formed by covalently coupling a polysaccharide to a fluorescent dye having a structure as shown in Formula I. A stable covalent bond is form between the polysaccharide molecule and the fluorescent dye molecule. The fluorescently labeled polysaccharide has high stability in serum and other detection environments, has high biocompatibility, and is applicable to the detection of carbohydrate molecules inside and outside cells. Due to a large Stokes shift of the fluorescent dye molecule, the fluorescently labeled polysaccharide has advantages of high fluorescence stability, high fluorescence quantum yields, and achieves high signal-to-noise ratios in imaging results. Further disclosed is a method for preparing the fluorescently labeled polysaccharide. The method has mild reaction conditions and high reaction selectivity, is simple to execute, and can be used to prepare a fluorescently labeled polysaccharide in high yield.

The present invention provides heteroaryl functionalized cyanine dyes including a reactive functional moiety, or which are conjugated to a carrier molecule.

This invention relates to new fluorescent chemical entities, especially fluorescent molecules that comprise biocompatible N, N-disubstituted sulfonamide fluorochromes. This invention also relates to the corresponding reactive versions of such molecules. This invention also relates to the corresponding conjugates with moieties such as peptides, proteins, various biomolecules, carbocyclic and heterocyclic compounds, sugars, and their uses thereof.