Patent ID: 8889884

Claim:
A compound of general formula III where each of R 1 , R 2 , R 5 , and R 6 is the same or different and is independently selected from the group consisting of an aliphatic, heteroaliphatic, sulfoalkyl group, or heteroaliphatic with terminal SO 3 ; each of R 7 and R 8 is the same or different and is independently selected from either H, SO 3 , sulfoalkyl, heteroaliphatic, or heteroaliphatic with terminal SO 3 ; each of R9 and R10 is the same or different and is independently selected from either aryl groups, substituted aryl groups, or cycloalkyl groups; R11 is an electrophilic group selected from the group consisting of a carboxylic acid, an alkyl ester, an aryl ester, a substituted aryl ester, an aldehyde, and amide, an aryl amide, an alkyl halide, a thioester, a sulfonyl ester, and alkyl ketone, an aryl ketone, a substituted aryl ketone, a halosulfonyl, a nitrile, and a nitro; L is a linking group selected from the group consisting of a divalent linear (—(CH 2 ) o —, o=1 to 15), crossed, cyclic, and combinations thereof alkylene group which can be substituted by at least one atom selected from the group consisting of oxygen, substituted nitrogen, and sulfur; Kat is a number of Na + , K + , Ca 2+ , ammonia, or other cation(s) needed to compensate the negative charge brought by the cyanine; m is an integer from 0 to 5 inclusive; o is an integer from 0 to 12 inclusive; and n is an integer from 1 to 3 inclusive.