Apoptosis (programmed cell death) plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of many disorders, thus the detection of apoptotic cells can provide the physician with important information to further therapeutic strategies and would substantially advance patient care. A small molecule, 4-(5-dimethylamino-naphthalene-1-sulfonamido)-3-(4-iodo-phenyl)butanoic acid (DNSBA), was designed as a novel probe for imaging apoptosis and synthesized with good yield. The biological characterization demonstrated that DNSBA can be used to specifically and selectively detect apoptotic cancer cells at all stages. DNSBA is also designed as a potential SPECT and PET probe when labeled with radioiodine (1-123, -124, and -131). (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.