A Red to Near‐IR Fluorogen: Aggregation‐Induced Emission,Large Stokes Shift,High Solid Efficiency and Application in Cell‐Imaging

A tetraphenylethene (TPE) derivative modified with the strong electron acceptor 2‐dicyano‐methylene‐3‐cyano‐4,5,5‐trimethyl‐2,5‐dihydrofuran (TCF) was obtained in high yield by a simple two‐step reaction. The resultant TPE‐TCF showed evident aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) features and pronounced solvatochromic behavior. Changing the solvent from apolar cyclohexane to highly polar acetonitrile, the emission peak shifted from 560 to 680 nm (120 nm redshift). In an acetonitrile solution and in the solid powder, the Stokes shifts are as large as 230 and 190 nm, respectively. The solid film emits red to near‐IR (red‐NIR) fluorescence with an emission peak at 670 nm and a quantum efficiency of 24.8 %. Taking the advantages of red‐NIR emission and high efficiency, nanoparticles (NPs) of TPE‐TCF were fabricated by using tat‐modified 1,2‐distearoylsn‐glycero‐3‐phosphor‐ethanol‐amine‐N‐[methoxy‐(polyethyl‐eneglycol)‐2000] as the encapsulation matrix. The obtained NPs showed perfect membrane penetrability and high fluorescent imaging quality of cell cytoplasm. Upon co‐incubation with 4,6‐diamidino‐2‐phenylindole (DAPI) in the presence of tritons, the capsulated TPE‐TCF nanoparticles could enter into the nucleus and displayed similar staining properties to those of DAPI.     

具有聚集诱导发光效应的咔唑基三苯乙烯衍生物单体及聚合物

合成了一类新的咔唑基三苯乙烯衍生物单体及其聚合物.利用示差扫描量热法(DSC)、热重分析法(TGA)、紫外可见分光光度法和荧光分光光度法等对单体和聚合物的性能进行了初步的表征.实验结果表明,该单体和聚合物具有较高的玻璃化转变温度(Tg),分别为210℃和229℃;单体和聚合物均具有很高的热稳定性,热失重5%的温度分别为466℃和467℃;单体具有明显的聚集诱导发光性能(AIE),而聚合物则具有聚集诱导增强发光性能(AIEE);所合成的单体和聚合物有望在OLED器件以及化学传感器上得到应用.     

具有聚集诱导发光性质的近红外荧光染料

聚集诱导发光(AIE)现象的发现为解决传统有机荧光分子在高浓度和聚集形态下存在的荧光猝灭问题提供了最佳方案,并实现了在光电器件、化学传感、生物成像和靶向治疗等众多领域的广泛应用。随着对AIE发光机理研究的不断深入,AIE分子体系得到了极大的扩展。其中,一类具有给体-受体结构的AIE分子能够显著降低分子能隙,使发光分子波长从可见光区(400~700 nm)延伸到近红外(NIR)区(700~1700 nm)。由于NIR发光分子在生物医学领域中的独特优势,其已成为目前AIE研究的热点。随着对NIR分子设计及应用的不断探索,附加不同功能且发光波长更长的AIE分子也被开发出来了,并实现了对生物体特定组织的NIR荧光成像、光声成像、光动力治疗和光热治疗等。本文总结了近年来具有AIE性能的NIR荧光分子的结构及其在生物医学领域的相关应用。     

Organic Crystals with Near‐Infrared Amplified Spontaneous Emissions Based on 2′‐Hydroxychalcone Derivatives: Subtle Structure Modification but Great Property Change

A series of highly efficient deep red to near‐infrared (NIR) emissive organic crystals 1 – 3 based on the structurally simple 2′‐hydroxychalcone derivatives were synthesized through a simple one‐step condensation reaction. Crystal 1 displays the highest quantum yield (Φ_f) of 0.32 among the reported organic single crystals with an emission maximum (λ_em) over 710 nm. Comparison between the bright emissive crystals 1 – 3 and the nearly nonluminous compounds 4 – 7 clearly gives evidence that a subtle structure modification can arouse great property changes, which is instructive in designing new high‐efficiency organic luminescent materials. Notably, crystals 1 – 3 exhibit amplified spontaneous emissions (ASE) with extremely low thresholds. Thus, organic deep red to NIR emissive crystals with very high Φ_f have been obtained and are found to display the first example of NIR fluorescent crystal ASE.     

Highly Efficient Near‐Infrared Organic Light‐Emitting Diode Based on a Butterfly‐Shaped Donor–Acceptor Chromophore with Strong Solid‐State Fluorescence and a Large Proportion of Radiative Excitons

The development of near‐infrared (NIR) organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) is of growing interest. Donor–acceptor (D–A) chromophores have served as an important class of NIR materials for NIR OLED applications. However, the external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) of NIR OLEDs based on conventional D–A chromophores are typically below 1 %. Reported herein is a butterfly‐shaped D–A compound, PTZ‐BZP. A PTZ‐BZP film displayed strong NIR fluorescence with an emission peak at 700 nm, and the corresponding quantum efficiency reached 16 %. Remarkably, the EQE of the NIR OLED based on PTZ‐BZP was 1.54 %, and a low efficiency roll‐off was observed, as well as a high radiative exciton ratio of 48 %, which breaks through the limit of 25 % in conventional fluorescent OLEDs. Experimental and theoretical investigations were carried out to understand the excited‐state properties of PTZ‐BZP.     

The Aggregation Regularity Effect of Multiarylpyrroles on Their Near-Infrared Aggregation-Enhanced Emission Property

Increasing the quantum yield of near-infrared (NIR) emissive dyes is critical for biological applications because these fluorescent dyes generally show decreased emission efficiency under aqueous conditions. In this work, we designed and synthesized several multiarylpyrrole (MAP) derivatives, in which a furanylidene (FE) group at the 3-position of the pyrrole forms donor-π-acceptor molecules, MAP-FE, with a NIR emissive wavelength and aggregation-enhanced emission (AEE) features. Different alkyl chains of MAP-FEs linked to phenyl groups at the 2,5-position of the pyrrole ring resulted in different emissive wavelengths and quantum yields in aggregated states, such as powders or single crystals. Powder XRD data and single crystal analysis elucidated that the different lengths of alkyl chains had a significant impact on the regularity of MAP-FEs when they were forced to aggregate or precipitate, which affected the intermolecular interaction and the restriction degree of the rotating parts, which are essential components. Therefore, an increasing number of NIR dyes could be developed by this design strategy to produce efficient NIR dyes with AEE. Moreover, this method can provide general guidance for other related fields, such as organic solar cells and organic light-emitting materials, because they are all applied in the aggregated state.     

Protein‐Sized Bright Fluorogenic Nanoparticles Based on Cross‐Linked Calixarene Micelles with Cyanine Corona

The key challenge in the field of fluorescent nanoparticles (NPs) for biological applications is to achieve superior brightness for sizes equivalent to single proteins (3–7 nm). We propose a concept of shell‐cross‐linked fluorescent micelles, in which PEGylated cyanine 3 and 5 bis‐azides form a covalently attached corona on micelles of amphiphilic calixarene bearing four alkyne groups. The fluorescence quantum yield of the obtained monodisperse NPs, with a size of 7 nm, is a function of viscosity and reached up to 15 % in glycerol. In the on‐state they are circa 2‐fold brighter than quantum dots (QD‐585), which makes them the smallest PEGylated organic NPs of this high brightness. FRET between cyanine 3 and 5 cross‐linkers at the surface of NPs suggests their integrity in physiological media, organic solvents, and living cells, in which the NPs rapidly internalize, showing excellent imaging contrast. Calixarene micelles with a cyanine corona constitute a new platform for the development of protein‐sized ultrabright fluorescent NPs.     

Stable Near-infrared-emitting Radical Nanoparticles for Fluorescence Imaging

Stable neutral luminescent radicals with unpaired electrons exhibit unique spin-allowed doublet-doublet transitions, which has attracted significant attention. Although they are pure organic molecules without metal ions thus thought to have low biological toxicity, the application of luminescent radicals to bioimaging has rarely been reported. Here, a stable radical with efficient near-infrared(NIR) emission and good photostability was designed and synthesized. After being wrapped into nanoparticles, it was applied to cell fluorescence imaging. The cytotoxicity experiments suggested that the nanoparticles have remarkable biocompatibility and excellent stability. An NIR fluorescent signal was successfully observed in the cytoplasm of HCT116 cells. The experimental results gave the first example of NIR emitting radical nanoparticles for cell fluorescence imaging and proved the feasibility of the application of luminescent radicals to fluorescence imaging.     

Self-carried AIE nanoparticles for in vitro non-invasive long-term imaging

In this study, we report the synthesis of highly emissive AIEgen-based NPs as long-term cell trackers, which enjoy the advantages of high brightness, good stability, large Stokes shift, good biocompatibility, and high photostability. The SCA NPs were successfully applied for in vitro long-term bio-imaging of HeLa cells, indicating that the SCA NPs could be ideal fluorescent probes for non-invasive long-term cellular imaging.     

不对称刚性扭曲菲并咪唑分子的设计合成及其深蓝电致发光性能研究

本研究通过不对称、刚性扭曲的分子设计理念,合成了高效深蓝有机电致发光材料MBTPI。该化合物具有很高的分解温度(496℃)与玻璃转化温度(190℃),有利于提高器件的稳定性;不对称刚性扭曲的分子构型有效控制了分子的整体共轭程度,使发光波长在深蓝光区,固体发光量子产率高达74%。理论计算验证了分子不对称扭曲的构型,并且发现甲基的引入对前线轨道分布影响不大,分子保留了较好的双极性质。基于MBTPI的非掺杂器件发射出非常高效的深蓝光。色纯度为(0.15,0.07),非常接近NTSC的蓝光标准(0.14,0.08)。最大外量子效率为4.91%,并且效率滚降很小,为性能最好的非掺杂深蓝光器件之一。     

Donor-Acceptor Typed AIE Luminogens with Near-infrared Emission for Super-resolution Imaging

Aggregation-induced emission(AIE)luminogens(AIEgens)with high brightness in aggregates exhibit great potentials in biological imaging,but these AIEgens are seldom applied in super-resolution biological imaging,especially in the imaging by using the structural illumination microscope(SIM).Based on this consideration,we synthesized the donor-acceptor typed AIEgen of DTPA-BTN,which not only owns high brightness in the near-infrared(NIR)emission region from 600 nm to 1000 nm(photoluminescence quantum yield,PLQYs=11.35%),but also displays excellent photo-stability.In addition,AIE nanoparticles based on 4,7-ditriphenylamine-[1,2,5]-thiadiazolo[3,4-c]pyridine(DTPA-BTN)were also prepared with highly emissive features and excellent biocompatibility.Finally,the developed DTPA-BTN-based AIE nanoparticles were applied in the super-resolution cellular imaging via SIM,where much smaller full width at half-maximum values and high signal to noise ratios were obtained,indicating the superior imaging resolution.The results here imply that highly emissive AIEgens or AIE nanoparticles can be promising imaging agents for super-resolution imaging via SIM.     

NIR-Ⅱ Excitation and NIR-I Emission Based Two-photon Fluorescence Lifetime Microscopic Imaging Using Aggregation-induced Emission Dots

Near-infrared(NIR)lights are powerful tools to conduct deep-tissue imaging since NIR-Ⅰ wavelengths hold less photon absorption and NIR-Ⅱ wavelengths serve low photon scattering in the biological tissues compared with visible lights.Two-photon fluorescence lifetime microscopy(2PFLM)can utilize NIR-Ⅱ excitation and NIR-Ⅰ emission at the same time with the assistance of a well-designed fluorescent agent.Aggregation induced emission(AIE)dyes are famous for unique optical properties and could serve a large two-photon absorption(2PA)cross-section as aggregated dots.Herein,we report two-photon fluorescence lifetime microscopic imaging with NIR-Ⅱ excitation and NIR-Ⅰ emission using a novel deep-red AIE dye.The AIE-gens held a 2PA cross-section as large as 1.61×10⁴GM at 1040 nm.Prepared AIE dots had a two-photon fluorescence peak at 790 nm and a stable lifetime of 2.2 ns under the excitation of 1040 nm femtosecond laser.The brain vessels of a living mouse were vividly reconstructed with the two-photon fluorescence lifetime information obtained by our home-made 2PFLM system.Abundant vessels as small as 3.17μm were still observed with a nice signal-background ratio at the depth of 750μm.Our work will inspire more insight into the improvement of the working wavelength of fluorescent agents and traditional 2PFLM.     

双态发光三苯胺基有机硼配合物的设计、合成与应用

以三(4-溴苯)胺、4-氨基苯硼酸频哪醇酯、4-二乙氨基水杨醛和三氟化硼乙醚溶液为原料,经过Suzuki偶联反应、缩合反应和配位反应,设计、合成了一种新型三枝结构的三苯胺有机硼配合物(TPAB),使用¹H和¹³C NMR对TPAB的结构进行了表征,通过紫外可见吸收光谱和荧光发射光谱详细研究了TPAB溶液和固体态的光物理性能以及不同的外部条件对其发光性能的影响。发现TPAB溶液和固体态都具有较强的荧光发射,在四氢呋喃溶液中的吸收峰位于417 nm,发射峰位于548 nm,荧光量子产率为40.49%,荧光寿命为1.72 ns; TPAB固体的荧光发射峰位于582 nm,荧光量子产率为11.43%,荧光寿命为0.72ns,表明TPAB具有优良的双态发光性能。此外,TPAB具有良好的发光稳定性,不受pH、金属离子、氨基酸和压力的影响。基于化合物优异的发光性能,将其应用于荧光细胞成像,在肝癌细胞(HepG2)中表现出良好的单光子和双光子荧光成像效果。     

A chelator-free multifunctional [64Cu]CuS nanoparticle platform for simultaneous micro-PET/CT imaging and photothermal ablation therapy

We synthesized and evaluated a novel class of chelator-free [(64)Cu]CuS nanoparticles (NPs) suitable both for PET imaging and as photothermal coupling agents for photothermal ablation. These [(64)Cu]CuS NPs are simple to make, possess excellent stability, and allow robust noninvasive micro-PET imaging. Furthermore, the CuS NPs display strong absorption in the near-infrared (NIR) region (peak at 930 nm); passive targeting prefers the tumor site, and mediated ablation of U87 tumor cells occurs upon exposure to NIR light both in vitro and in vivo after either intratumoral or intravenous injection. The combination of small diameter (～11 nm), strong NIR absorption, and integration of (64)Cu as a structural component makes these [(64)Cu]CuS NPs ideally suited for multifunctional molecular imaging and therapy.     

Efficient NIR‐Light Emission from Solid‐State Complexes of Boron Difluoride with 2′‐Hydroxychalcone Derivatives

This article describes a series of nine complexes of boron difluoride with 2′‐hydroxychacone derivatives. These dyes were synthesized very simply and exhibited intense NIR emission in the solid state. Complexation with boron was shown to impart very strong donor–acceptor character into the excited state of these dyes, which further shifted their emission towards the NIR region (up to 855 nm for dye 5 b , which contained the strongly donating triphenylamine group). Strikingly, these optical features were obtained for crystalline solids, which are characterized by high molecular order and tight packing, two features that are conventionally believed to be detrimental to luminescence in organic crystals. Remarkably, the emission of light from the π‐stacked molecules did not occur at the expense of the emission quantum yield. Indeed, in the case of pyrene‐containing dye 4 , for example, a fluorescence quantum yield of about 15 % with a fluorescence emission maximum at 755 nm were obtained in the solid state. Moreover, dye 3 a and acetonaphthone‐based compounds 1 b , 2 b , and 3 b showed no evidence of degradation as solutions in CH₂Cl₂ that contained EtOH. In particular, solutions of brightly fluorescent compound 3 a (brightness: ε×Φ_f=45 000 M ^?1 cm^?1) could be stored for long periods without any detectable changes in its optical properties. All together, these new dyes possess a set of very interesting properties that make them promising solid‐state NIR fluorophores for applications in materials science.     

A unique class of near-infrared functional fluorescent dyes with carboxylic-acid-modulated fluorescence ON/OFF switching: rational design, synthesis, optical properties, theoretical calculations, and applications for fluorescence imaging in living animals

Fluorescence imaging is one of the most powerful techniques for monitoring biomolecules in living systems. Fluorescent sensors with absorption and emission in the near-infrared (NIR) region are favorable for biological imaging applications in living animals, as NIR light leads to minimum photodamage, deep tissue penetration, and minimum background autofluorescence interference. Herein, we have introduced a new strategy to design NIR functional dyes with the carboxylic-acid-controlled fluorescence on-off switching mechanism by the spirocyclization. Based on the design strategy, we have developed a series of Changsha (CS1-6) NIR fluorophores, a unique new class of NIR functional fluorescent dyes, bearing excellent photophysical properties including large absorption extinction coefficients, high fluorescence quantum yields, high brightness, good photostability, and sufficient chemical stability. Significantly, the new CS1-6 NIR dyes are superior to the traditional rhodamine dyes with both absorption and emission in the NIR region while retaining the rhodamine-like fluorescence ON-OFF switching mechanism. In addition, we have performed quantum chemical calculations with the B3LYP exchange functional employing 6-31G* basis sets to shed light on the structure-optical properties of the new CS1-6 NIR dyes. Furthermore, using CS2 as a platform, we further constructed the novel NIR fluorescent TURN-ON sensor 7, which is capable of imaging endogenously produced HClO in the living animals, demonstrating the value of our new CS NIR functional fluorescent dyes. We expect that the design strategy may be extended for development of a wide variety of NIR functional dyes with a suitable fluorescence-controlled mechanism for many useful applications in biological studies.     

给体-受体-给体窄带隙染料掺杂聚芴发光二极管

合成了一系列给体-受体-给体型窄带隙荧光分子, 并将其作为掺杂剂与主体(Host)宽带隙聚芴共混制备发光二极管. 荧光分子为4,7-二呋喃-苯并噻二唑(O-S)、4,7-二噻吩-苯并噻二唑(S-S)、4,7-二(N-甲基吡咯)-苯并噻二唑(N-S)、4,7-二硒吩-苯并噻二唑(Se-S)和4,7-二(N-甲基吡咯)-苯并硒二唑(N-Se). 溶液中荧光分子的紫外-可见吸收峰位于447~472 nm, 荧光发射峰位于563~637 nm. 该系列荧光分子掺杂聚芴(PFO)发光器件的电致发光峰位于580~633 nm. 当器件结构为ITO/PEDOT/PVK/PFO+N-Se/Ba/Al时, 最大外量子效率为1.28%, 电流效率1.31 cd/A.     

Rigid Bridge-Confined Double-Decker Platinum(II) Complexes Towards High-Performance Red and Near-Infrared Electroluminescence

A molecular design to high-performance red and near-infrared (NIR) organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) emitters remains demanding. Herein a series of dinuclear platinum(II) complexes featuring strong intramolecular Pt???Pt and π–π interactions has been developed by using N-deprotonated α-carboline as a bridging ligand. The complexes in doped thin films exhibit efficient red to NIR emission from short-lived (τ=0.9–2.1 μs) triplet metal-metal-to-ligand charge transfer (³MMLCT) excited states. Red OLEDs demonstrate high maximum external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) of up to 23.3 % among the best Pt^II-complex-doped devices. The maximum EQE of 15.0 % and radiance of 285 W sr^?1 m^?2 for NIR OLEDs (λ_EL=725 nm) are unprecedented for devices based on discrete molecular emitters. Both red and NIR devices show very small efficiency roll-off at high brightness. Appealing operational lifetimes have also been revealed for the devices. This work sheds light on the potential of intramolecular metallophilicity for long-wavelength molecular emitters and electroluminescence.     

Near‐Infrared Light and pH‐Responsive Polypyrrole@Polyacrylic acid/Fluorescent Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles for Imaging and Chemo‐Photothermal Cancer Therapy

We have rationally designed a new theranostic agent by coating near‐infrared (NIR) light‐absorbing polypyrrole (PPY) with poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), in which PAA acts as a nanoreactor and template, followed by growing small fluorescent silica nanoparticles (fSiO₂ NPs) inside the PAA networks, resulting in the formation of polypyrrole@polyacrylic acid/fluorescent mesoporous silica (PPY@PAA/fmSiO₂) core–shell NPs. Meanwhile, DOX‐loaded PPY@PAA/fmSiO₂ NPs as pH and NIR dual‐sensitive drug delivery vehicles were employed for fluorescence imaging and chemo‐photothermal synergetic therapy in vitro and in vivo. The results demonstrate that the PPY@PAA/fmSiO₂ NPs show high in vivo tumor uptake by the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect after intravenous injection as revealed by in vivo fluorescence imaging, which is very helpful for visualizing the location of the tumor. Moreover, the obtained NPs inhibit tumor growth (95.6 % of tumors were eliminated) because of the combination of chemo‐photothermal therapy, which offers a synergistically improved therapeutic outcome compared with the use of either therapy alone. Therefore, the present study provides new insights into developing NIR and pH‐stimuli responsive PPY‐based multifunctional platform for cancer theranostics.     

Designing Sub‐2 nm Organosilica Nanohybrids for Far‐Field Super‐Resolution Imaging

Stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy enables ultrastructural imaging of biological samples with high spatiotemporal resolution. STED nanoprobes based on fluorescent organosilica nanohybrids featuring sub‐2 nm size and near‐unity quantum yield are presented. The spin–orbit coupling (SOC) of heavy‐atom‐rich organic fluorophores is mitigated through a silane‐molecule‐mediated condensation/dehalogenation process, resulting in bright fluorescent organosilica nanohybrids with multiple emitters in one hybrid nanodot. When harnessed as STED nanoprobes, these fluorescent nanohybrids show intense photoluminescence, high biocompatibility, and long‐term photostability. Taking advantage of the low‐power excitation (0.5 μW), prolonged singlet‐state lifetime, and negligible depletion‐induced re‐excitation, these STED nanohybrids present high depletion efficiency (>96 %), extremely low saturation intensity (0.54 mW, ca. 0.188 MW cm^?2), and ultra‐high lateral resolution (ca. λ_em/28).