BODIPY-based dye for no-wash live-cell staining and imaging.

In nonpolar solvents, hydrophobic organic fluorophores often show bright fluorescence, whereas in polar media, they usually suffer from aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ). Here, we harnessed this solvatochromic behavior of a 1,3,5,7-tetramethyl-BODIPY derivative for cell staining and applied it to live-cell imaging and flow cytometry. As opposed to commercially available dyes, this BODIPY derivative showed excellent contrast immediately after staining and did not require any wash-off.