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Chemistry In Pictures

Chemistry in Pictures: Metal mimic

by Brianna Barbu
January 21, 2025

 

A flask with a shiny, golden colored dye in it.
Credit: Philip Hughes
Chemical structure of the organic cyanine dye molecule.

No metals were used to make this shiny substance. It’s a fully organic cyanine dye molecule, composed only of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur. Philip Hughes, a medicinal chemist working as a research scientist at Duke University, snapped this photo as he was purifying the dye to prepare to attach it to a drug molecule that targets a protein commonly overexpressed in prostate tumors. The dye-drug combo is designed to bind to the cancer cells and make them glow under near-infrared light. Hughes says he didn’t expect the dye to turn out nearly this shimmery when he removed the solvent—in solution, the compound had been dark green. He adds that he’s seen a similar thing happen with blue cyanine dyes.

Submitted by Philip Hughes

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