Supported by the Spanish Direccion General de Ensenanza Superior e Investigacion Cientifica, Ministerio de Educacion y Cultura (Projects PB96-0852 and BQU2000-1500). E. Q. acknowledges a doctoral fellowship from the same source.
Inspired by Archaebacterial lipids, transmembraneprobes anchor a sensing fluorescentpolyene with Ångström resolution deep within a lipid layer. These new bolaamphiphiles are obtained in good yields from a double cross-coupling between esters with a terminal acetylene group and conjugated 1,ω-dihalopolyenes, followed by partial reduction of the triple bond.