Carboranes containing two-photon sensitive fluorescent probes for microscopy

Carborane containing systems are of growing emphasis in biological applications. Many systems are nowadays described for potential use in Boron Neutron Capture Therapy. Nevertheless, only few systems containing a carborane moiety and presenting an important two-photon excited fluorescence are described in the literature. We which to present here the few systems built with a carborane moiety, presenting a significant twophoton excited fluorescence and used in two-photon excited microscopy on cell culture. We also present a new pathway to obtain di-ethynyl symmetrically substituted p-carborane for an easy preparation of π-expanded conjugated systems based on p-carborane.