Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 9, 2025

Imaging Intermediate Filaments and Microtubules with 2-dimensional Direct Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy
Published on: March 6, 2018
Transforming Rhodamine Dyes for (d)STORM Super-Resolution Microscopy via 1,3-Disubstituted Imidazolium Substitution
Bowen Wang1, Michael Xiong1, Josephine Susanto2,3
1Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, 456 Stanley Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Abstract:
We introduce a strategy to optimize the photoswitching behavior of rhodamines for (d)STORM super-resolution microscopy. By replacing the benzene ring in the rhodamine core with a permanently charged 1,3-disubstituted imidazolium, the resultant dyes are markedly sensitized toward photoswitching, and exhibit outstanding (d)STORM performance with fast on-off switching, long-lasting blinking, and bright single-molecule emission. We thus attain excellent (d)STORM images under green excitation that are on par with the "ideal" red-excited dyes, including for difficult structures such as the mammalian actin cytoskeleton, and demonstrate high-quality two-color three-dimensional (d)STORM.
Related Concept Videos
Super-resolution Fluorescence Microscopy
Aryldiazonium Salts to Azo Dyes: Diazo Coupling
Diazonium Group Substitution with Halogens and Cyanide: Sandmeyer and Schiemann Reactions
Diazonium Group Substitution: –OH and –H

