Indolylbenzothiadiazoles as highly tunable fluorophores for imaging lipid droplet accumulation in astrocytes and glioblastoma cells

We present an extensive photophysical study of a series of fluorescent indolylbenzothiadiazole derivatives and their ability to specifically image lipid droplets in astrocytes and glioblastoma cells. All compounds in the series displayed positive solvatochromism together with large Stokes shifts, and π-extended derivatives exhibited elevated brightness. It was shown that the fluorescence properties were highly tunable by varying the electronic...