A highly fluorescent turn-on probe in the near-infrared region for albumin quantification in serum matrix

Developing sensitive and selective near-infrared fluorescent bio-probes for serum albumin detection is an ambitious and highly rewarding task. Herein, we report a styryl based fluorophore for serum albumin detection, which displays an exceptional turn-on emission enhancement of ∼500 fold, the highest reported so far in the near-infrared region, and more importantly enables quantification of albumin in the complex serum matrix.