Binuclear ruthenium(II) complexes for amyloid fibrils recognition

•Interactions of binuclear ruthenium(II) complexes with amyloid fibrils.•Dimer ruthenium(II) compounds are sensitive amyloid fibrils biomarkers.•Recognition of amyloid-chromophore adducts by two-photon excited emission.

Metal-organic compounds represent a unique class of biomarkers with promising photophysical properties useful for imaging. Here interactions of insulin fibrils with two binuclear complexes [μ-(11,11′-bidppz)(phen)4Ru2]4+ (1) and [μ-C4(cpdppz)(phen)4Ru2]4+ (2) are studied by linear dichroism (LD) and fluorescence. These ruthenium(II) compounds could provide a new generation of amyloid binding chromophores with long lived lifetimes, good luminescence quantum yields for the bound molecules and photo-stability useful in multiphoton luminescence imaging.

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