A benzothiadiazole-quinoline hybrid sensor for specific bioimaging and surgery procedures in mice

[Display omitted] •A new lipophilic benzothiadiazole (BTD)-based sensor for lipid-rich cells was synthesized.•DFT calculations shed light over the sensor’s photoproperties.•Cellular and multicellular selective staining was successfully achieved.•An animal surgery using lipid-rich fed mice was successfully performed using the new BTD sensor. The work describes the design, synthesis, characterization and biological application (bioimaging) of a new hybrid and fluorescent 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole-quinoline sensor. Both photophysical data of the designed compound and DFT calculations have indicated its high stability and have pointed to its possible efficient application as a bioprobe for bioimaging experiments. The new sensor has been designed to display lipophilic character being capable of selectively stain lipid bodies independent whether live and fixed cancer cells were used. The fluorescent sensor has also been tested as a specific bioimaging marker for C. elegans (complex multicellular model) and has showed far better selectivity in the worm than the commercially available BODIPY. A live mice has been submitted to a surgery procedure and the adipocytes (lipid-rich) cells have been differentiated from standard cells. Experiments using high fat fed mice have enabled a high-resolution 3D image reconstruction. Also, in another surgery procedure, hepatocyte cells could have been successfully followed in the blood flow using the designed sensor in a multistaining procedure alongside with a commercially available blue emitting nuclei marker.