Cover Picture: BODIPY‐Based Nanomicelles as Near‐Infrared Fluorescent “Turn‐On” Sensors for Biogenic Thiols (ChemNanoMat 5/2016)

Novel, aqueous-soluble, near-infrared (NIR) organic-dye-containing nanomicelles were developed as biogenic thiol sensors. Near-infrared-emitting distyryl-BODIPY was chemically linked to the fluorescence quencher group of 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfonyl (DNBS) and then was water solubilized and formed into nanomicelles via polylactic acid–polyethylene glycol (PLA-PEG) encapsulation. When thiols react with the DNBS moiety, subsequent recovery of distyryl-BODIPY fluorescence was observed both in vitro and in living cells. These nanomicelles possess excellent photostability, are selective towards biogenic thiols, and function within a quite broad pH range (pH=3–10). This work provides a convenient and general method to construct intracellular nanoprobes for biogenic thiols and should also pave the way to numerous other fluorescence-dye-based sensor designs. More information can be found in the Communication by G. Han et al. on page 396 in Issue 5, 2016 (DOI: 10.1002/cnma.201600019).