Synthesis and Spectroscopic Properties of Selenophene[3, 2-b]-Fused BODIPYs

Fusion selenophene endows the chromophore with more intrinsic and special functions. Herein, nonsymmetric selenophene-fused BODIPYs were designed and synthesized starting from the selenophene unit. The fused ring of selenophene not only maintains the rigid structure of BODIPY but also further modulates its spectral properties. The newly prepared dyes possessed many promising properties including large molar extinction coefficients, low fluorescence quantum yields, and moderate singlet oxygen generation. Quantum calculations affirmed that the smaller singlet-triplet energy gap and larger spin-orbit coupling cause efficient intersystem crossing, thus enhancing the singlet oxygen generation yield. Furthermore, selenophene-fused BODIPY exhibited significant phototoxicity with negligible dark cytotoxicity, based on the fluorescence imaging of the reactive oxygen species detection experiment.