A Triphenylphosphonium Functionalized AIE Conjugated Macrocyclic Tetramal&mide for Mitochondrial-targeting Bioimaging

Developme nt of subcellular orga nelle-targeted bioimagi ng probes is of great imports nee in the field of early detection of diseases and exploring the behaviors of subcellular organelles.Herein,we present a triphenyIphosphonium functionalized conjugated macrocyclic tetramaleimide(TPP-CMT)as a mitochondrial-targeting bioimaging probe.The core of TPP-CMT is obtained by connecting two pyrenes and two benzenes through four maleimides.This unique structure endows TPP-CMT with exceptional far red/near-i nfirared aggregati on-induced emissi on(FR/NIR-AIE)characteristics.TPP-CMT is an excelle nt fluoresce nt emitter in most solve nts and eve n in solid states.The qua ntum yield of TPP-CMT was higher tha n 27% when dissolved in comm on middle-polarity orga nic solve nt and this value remained at 28.2% in its solid state.The in troducti on of four triphe ny Iphosph onium on maleimide positions endows TPP-CMT with mitochondrial-targeting ability.Thanks to the FR/NIR-AIE characteristics and the mitochondri-al-targeti ng ability,this well-desig ned fluoresce nt probe was successfully employed for mitochondrial targeti ng bioimaging of HeLa and HepG2 cells.