Synthesis and Characterization of Amphiphilic Fluorescent Molecules for Liposome Formulation and Imaging

International audience ; During last years, lipids and their derivatives are the subject of increasing interest, not only due to their investigations in biological systems, but also due to their use in different formulations and therapeutic and/or imaging strategies. In this context, we are interested in the incorporation of our non-commercial fluorescent molecules in cellular membrane. We describe here the synthesis and characterization of new simple model amphiphilic derivatives (L) bearing a fluorescent tag with ionizable groups, which may potentially become positively charged. To prove their possible application in cellulo, these molecules were consequently incorporated into home-made liposomes as model system. Indeed, the liposomes exhibit the expected fluorescence and their size does not significantly differ from those prepared without L. Our liposomes are indeed positively charged at pH ~7 and can be visualized with fluorescence microscopy.