Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of a dansyled amino acid derivative as an imaging agent for apoptosis

To develop a small molecule-based biomarker for in vivo apoptosis imaging, a dansyled amino acid derivative (BNSBA) was designed and synthesized in good yield. The biological evaluation demonstrated that BNSBA selectively binds to apoptotic cancer cells and is localized within the cytoplasm of cells that bound annexin V on the plasma membrane.