Triangulenium imaging dye is 'ten times better'
13 May 2013
Danish chemists have discovered a new dye that they claim will improve imaging techniques.
Thomas Just Sørensen and Bo Wegge Laursen, chemists at the University of Copenhagen, have shown that the aza-oxa-trangulenium dyes have the potential to outperform all fluorescent dyes currently used in imaging.
“Our dyes are ten times better, far cheaper and easier to use. The latter I believe, will lead to expanded opportunities and broadened use, by physicians and researchers in developing countries, for example,” said Thomas Just Sørensen.
We are giving the dye away to anyone that wants to perform a comparison test
One of the central challenges when taking pictures of cells and organs, is to avoid noise.
Just as the dial and hands of a watch might glow-in-the-dark, tissue becomes luminescent when exposed to light. Tissue and other organic structures luminesce for 10 nanoseconds after exposure to light. The light-life of an ordinary dye is the same – 10 nanoseconds.
But triangulenium dyes produce light for an entire 100 nanoseconds. The long life of the triangulenium dyes means that an image can be produced without background noise.
Furthermore, the extra 90 nanoseconds opens the possibility of filming living images of the processes occurring within cells, for example when a drug attacks an illness.
The use of triangulenium dyes necessitates only one dye. And in contrast with typical dyes, no specialised equipment is needed to see the dyes in tissue samples.
“I know that our dye is better, but biologists and physicians don’t. Therefore, we are giving the dye away to anyone that wants to perform a comparison test,” said Thomas Just Sørensen.
“Only when several researchers have shown triangulenium dyes to perform just as effectively as its predecessors can we hope for our substance to become more widely adopted.”
