Hyperspectral Microscopy of Near-Infrared Fluorescence Enables 17-Chirality Carbon Nanotube Imaging

The intrinsic near-infrared photoluminescence (fluorescence) of single-walled carbon nanotubes exhibits unique photostability, narrow bandwidth, penetration through biological media, environmental sensitivity and both chromatic variety and range. Biomedical applications exploiting this large family of fluorophores will require the spectral and spatial resolution of individual (n,m) nanotube species’ fluorescence and its modulation within live cells and tissues, which is not possible with current microscopy methods. We present a wide-field hyperspectral approach to spatially delineate and spectroscopically measure single nanotube fluorescence in living systems. This approach resolved up to 17 distinct (n,m) species (chiralities) with single nanotube spatial resolution in live mammalian cells, murine tissues ex vivo and zebrafish endothelium in vivo . We anticipate that this approach will facilitate multiplexed nanotube imaging in biomedical applications while enabling deep-tissue optical penetration and single-molecule resolution in vivo .