A "Distorted-BODIPY"-Based Fluorescent Probe for Imaging of Cellular Viscosity in Live Cells

Cellular viscosity is a critical factor in governing diffusion‐mediated cellular processes and is linked to a number of diseases and pathologies. Fluorescent molecular rotors (FMRs) have recently been developed to determine viscosity in solutions or biological fluid. Herein, we report a “distorted‐BODIPY”‐based probe BV‐1 for cellular viscosity, which is different from the conventional “pure rotors”. In BV‐1, the internal steric hindrance between the meso‐CHO group and the 1,7‐dimethyl group forced the boron–dipyrrin framework to be distorted, which mainly caused nonradiative deactivation in low‐viscosity environment. BV‐1 gave high sensitivity (x=0.62) together with stringent selectivity to viscosity, thus enabling viscosity mapping in live cells. Significantly, the increase of cytoplasmic viscosity during apoptosis was observed by BV‐1 in real time. Different from the conventional “pure rotors”, a “distorted difluoroboron dipyrromethene (BODIPY)”‐based fluorescent probe (BV‐1) for cellular viscosity has been developed. BV‐1 gave high sensitivity with stringent selectivity to viscosity, thus enabling viscosity mapping in live cells (see figure). Significantly, the increase of cytoplasmic viscosity during apoptosis was observed by BV‐1 in real time.