Indocyanine green (ICG) is a negatively charged, tricarbocyanine dye that is widely exploited for its low toxicity and infrared fluorescence emission. ICG's minimal toxicity is attributed to its strict binding with plasma proteins. This confines it to the vascular compartment where it is rapidly metabolized by the liver and excreted exclusively by the liver and bile ducts. ICG and ICG derivatives can be used as in vivo molecular imaging probes. Their infrared fluorescence emission penetrates tissues several millimeters to facilitate deep tissue and small animal in vivo imaging. ICG is used in medical diagnostics for determining cardiac output, hepatic function, and liver blood flow and for ophthalmic angiography. In addition, ICG has been conjugated to several antibodies for cancer cell and tumor targeting.

iFluor^® 790 is the brightest near-IR dye available that is spectrally similar to indocyanine green (ICG), Alexa Fluor^® 790, and IRDye^® 800 dye. The excellent water-solubility and salt tolerance, pH-insensitive fluorescence and photostable signal generation of iFluor^® 790 dye is superior for high density labeling applications, Western blotting and immunocytochemical (ICC) assays, as well as for protein arrays, microscopy, in vivo imaging and IR optical probe development. The emission of iFluor^® 790 is well separated from commonly used far-red fluorophores such as Cy5 (Cat No. 151), Cy7 (Cat No. 161) or allophycocyanin (ReadiUse™ APC, Cat No. 2503), facilitating multicolor analysis. iFluor^® 790 is favorable for small animal in vivo imaging applications or for other imaging applications that require NIR detections such as the two-color western applications with the LI-COR^® Odyssey^® infrared imaging system.

iFluor^® 790 is available in different reactive dye formats and in a ReadiLink™ labeling kit that can be used to label proteins, antibodies, peptides and nucleotides with bright IR fluorescence. Also available is the iFluor^® 790 dye conjugated to a variety of antibodies, streptavidin and amplification substrates optimized for cellular labeling and detection.

Indocyanine green fluorescent dyes in combination with IR fluorescence imaging significantly enhances assay sensitivity. By utilizing fluorescent systems designed to operate within infrared wavelengths between 700 and 1000 nm, both light scattering and autofluorescence are drastically reduced due to the minimal absorption of biomolecules in this region. The resulting low background interference and high signal-to-noise ratios improves detection sensitivity.

We offer a broad selection of sulfonated and non-sulfonated, as well as, PEG-modified indocyanine green derivatives and reactive dyes for labeling proteins, antibodies, peptides and other biomolecules with IR fluorescence. Indocyanine green reactive forms available include:

Derivatives of non-sulfonated indocyanine green are well-suited for applications in organic media due to their very low aqueous solubility. These derivatives require the use of organic co-solvents, such as 5-20% DMF or DMSO, for efficient biomolecule labeling. When labeling biomolecules with indocyanine green derivatives, first dissolve dye in organic solvent and then added to a solution of biomolecule in appropriate aqueous buffer.

Sulfonated indocyanine green derivatives contain sulfo-groups to facilitated solubility of dye in aqueous solution. Addition of charged sulfonate groups reduces the aggregation of free dye molecules and heavily labeled conjugates. Sulfonated indocyanine green dyes are highly water-soluble and do not require the use of organic co-solvents when labeling.

PEG-modified (or PEGylated) indocyanine green derivatives contain spacer arms comprised of poly(ethylene glycol), or PEG. This spacer arm increases the solubility by making indocyanine green derivatives with uncharged reactive groups soluble or those with charged reactive groups more soluble. Additionally PEG-modification of indocyanine green dyes can increase the hydrophobicity of the indocyanine green dye and significantly reduce unspecific binding.