Localization-​controlled two-​color luminescence imaging via environmental modulation of energy transfer in a multichromophoric species

We prepared a bichromophoric species 1, made of two different bodipy dyes bridged by a D-galactose unit; 1 exhibits different emission spectra when located in different compartments of biological systems, independently of concentration, an unprecedented feature for a single multicomponent molecule, owing to the dependence on the environment of the photoinduced energy transfer process occurring between its bodipy subunits. Therefore, 1 can gives useful information on cell composition and eventual anomalies, without requiring that several different compounds are simultaneously used, so paving the way to the use of environment-controlled intercomponent energy transfer for cell information based on luminescence imaging.