bioimagesUnknownhttps://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-BIAD1368bioimagesSpecimenImage analysisStudy ComponentorganisationBiosampleAssociationsImage acquisitionEmily B. MobleyfalseChromenylium Star Polymers: Merging Water Solubility and Stealth Properties with Shortwave Infrared Emissive FluorophoresFluorescence imaging in the shortwave infrared (SWIR) region has emerged as a vital tool for studying mammals. SWIR emissive polymethine dyes are well suited to this endeavor; however, advancing in vivo imaging utility with these dyes is primarily limited by hydrophobicity and/or non-specific protein adsorption. Herein, we take a distinct approach to combine hydrophilicity and stealth behavior to construct bright, SWIR emissive chromenylium fluorophores by employing a well-defined poly(2-methyl-2-oxazoline) (POx) star polymer architecture, which we refer to as chromenylium stars, or “CStars.” Of these polymer-shielded dyes, the variant containing five POx chains (CStar30) boasts particularly enhanced aqueous solubility and SWIR brightness, enabling high resolution SWIR imaging in mice. The2024-09-21T00:00:00Z2025-01-14T23:19:32.404Z2024-09-18T17:31:29.034ZS-BIAD1368