A novel fluorescent sensor for Sn4+ detection: Dark resonance energy transfer from silole to rhodamine

A novel dark resonance energy transfer (DRET) off–on cassette SR1 was constructed by coupling a silole donor with a rhodamine acceptor. Due to the intramolecular rotations of the phenyl rings, the silole fluorophore served as a dark donor in solution state and fluorescence leakage from the donor emission could be avoided. Binding with Sn⁴⁺ ion induced the ring‐opening of the rhodamine acceptor, thus increase the overlapping between the emission spectra of the donor and absorption spectra of the acceptor. DRET was turned on and energy was transferred from the silole donor to the rhodamine acceptor. Emission from the rhodamine acceptor was achieved with a large Stokes shift up to 198 nm. The sensor showed good sensitivity and selectivity towards Sn⁴⁺ to other metal ions in methanol aqueous solution through the formation of a 1:1 complex between SR1 and Sn⁴⁺. This research provides a new approach for the development of rhodamine‐based sensors towards metal ions with large Stokes shifts.     

Dual‐Phase Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Luminogens: A Material for Time‐Resolved Imaging Independent of Probe Pretreatment and Probe Concentration

Developing luminescent probes with long lifetime and high emission efficiency is essential for time‐resolved imaging. However, the practical applications usually suffer from emission quenching of traditional luminogens in aggregated states, or from weak emission of aggregation‐induced emission type luminogens in monomeric states. Herein, we overcome this dilemma by a rigid‐and‐flexible alternation design in donor–acceptor–donor skeletons, to achieve a thermally activated delayed fluorescence luminogen with high emission efficiency both in the monomeric state (quantum yield up to 35.3 %) and in the aggregated state (quantum yield up to 30.8 %). Such a dual‐phase strong and long‐lived emission allows a time‐resolved luminescence imaging, with an efficiency independent of probe pretreatment and probe concentration. The findings open opportunities for developing luminescent probes with a usage in larger temporal and spatial scales.     

Efficient Light‐Harvesting Systems with Tunable Emission through Controlled Precipitation in Confined Nanospace

Light harvesting is a key step in photosynthesis but creation of synthetic light‐harvesting systems (LHSs) with high efficiencies has been challenging. When donor and acceptor dyes with aggregation‐induced emission were trapped within the interior of cross‐linked reverse vesicles, LHSs were obtained readily through spontaneous hydrophobically driven aggregation of the dyes in water. Aggregation in the confined nanospace was critical to the energy transfer and the light‐harvesting efficiency. The efficiency of the excitation energy transfer (EET) reached 95 % at a donor/acceptor ratio of 100:1 and the energy transfer was clearly visible even at a donor/acceptor ratio of 10 000:1. Multicolor emission was achieved simply by tuning the donor/acceptor feed ratio in the preparation and the quantum yield of white light emission from the system was 0.38, the highest reported for organic materials in water to date.     

Facile Tuned TSCT-TADF in Donor-Acceptor MOF for Highly Adjustable Photonic Modules based on Heterostructures Crystals

Highly adjustable photonic modules were constructed based on the heterostructures crystals of a new series of donor-acceptor metal–organic framework (D-A MOF) featuring highly tunable thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF). By introducing N-phenylcarbazole and derivatives as donor guests into the acceptor host NKU-111, highly tunable through-space charge transfer based TADF could be achieved through the engineering of heavy atom effect, which result in modulatable emission wavelength (540 to 600 nm) and enhanced quantum yield (up to 30.86 %). Furthermore, by rationally integrating the D-A MOFs with distinctive emissions, rod-like heterostructures crystals featuring excitation position dependent tip emissions in wide wavelength range (495 to 598 nm) could be fabricated, which could serve as highly potential photonic modules for photonic circuit applications.     

Red-Emitting Delayed Fluorescence and Room Temperature Phosphorescence from Core-Substituted Naphthalene Diimides

Unprecedented ambient triplet-mediated emission in core-substituted naphthalene diimide (cNDI) derivatives is unveiled via delayed fluorescence and room temperature phosphorescence. Carbazole core-substituted cNDIs, with a donor–acceptor design, showed deep-red triplet emission in solution processable films with high quantum yield. This study, with detailed theoretical calculations and time-resolved emission experiments, enables new design insights into the triplet harvesting of cNDIs; an important family of molecules which has been, otherwise, extensively been investigated for its n-type electronic character and tunable singlet fluorescence.     

From Dark to Light to Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET): Polarity‐Sensitive Aggregation‐Induced Emission (AIE)‐Active Tetraphenylethene‐Fused BODIPY Dyes with a Very Large Pseudo‐Stokes Shift

The work presented herein is devoted to the fabrication of large Stokes shift dyes in both organic and aqueous media by combining dark resonance energy transfer (DRET) and fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) in one donor–acceptor system. In this respect, a series of donor–acceptor architectures of 4,4‐difluoro‐4‐bora‐3a,4a‐diaza‐s‐indacene (BODIPY) dyes substituted by one, two, or three tetraphenylethene (TPE) luminogens were designed and synthesised. The photophysical properties of these three chromophore systems were studied to provide insight into the nature of donor–acceptor interactions in both THF and aqueous media. Because the generation of emissive TPE donor(s) is strongly polarity dependent, due to its aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) feature, one might expect the formation of appreciable fluorescence emission intensity with a very large pseudo‐Stokes shift in aqueous media when considering FRET process. Interestingly, similar results were also recorded in THF for the chromophore systems, although the TPE fragment(s) of the dyes are non‐emissive. The explanation for this photophysical behaviour lies in the DRET. This is the first report on combining two energy‐transfer processes, namely, FRET and DRET, in one polarity‐sensitive donor–acceptor pair system. The accuracy of the dark‐emissive donor property of the TPE luminogen is also presented for the first time as a new feature for AIE phenomena.     

Efficient Excitation‐Energy Transfer in Ion‐Based Organic Nanoparticles with Versatile Tunability of the Fluorescence Colours

Organic nanoparticles consisting of 3,3′‐diethylthiacyanine (TC) and ethidium (ETD) dyes are synthesized by ion‐association between the cationic dye mixture (10 % ETD doping) and the tetrakis(4‐fluorophenyl)borate (TFPB) anion, in the presence of a neutral stabilizing polymer, in aqueous solution. Doping with ETD makes the particle size smaller than without doping. Size tuning can also be conducted by varying the molar ratio (ρ) of the loaded anion to the cationic dyes. The fluorescence spectrum of TC shows good overlap with the absorption of ETD in the 450–600 nm wavelength region, so efficient excitation‐energy transfer from TC (donor) to ETD (acceptor) is observed, yielding organic nanoparticles whose fluorescence colours are tunable. Upon ETD doping, the emission colour changes significantly from greenish‐blue to reddish or whitish. This change is mainly dependent on ρ. For the doped nanoparticle sample with ρ=1, the intensity of fluorescence ascribed to ETD is ～150‐fold higher than that from pure ETD nanoparticles (efficient antenna effect). Non‐radiative Förster resonance‐energy transfer (FRET) is the dominant mechanism for the ETD fluorescence enhancement. The organic nanoparticles of a binary dye system fabricated by the ion‐association method act as efficient light‐harvesting antennae, which are capable of transferring light energy to the dopant acceptors in very close proximity to the donors, and can have multi‐wavelength emission colours with high fluorescence quantum yields.     

Composite Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles with Dual-color Afterglow for Cross-correlation-based Living Cell Imaging

Room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials are characterized with emission after removing the excitation source. Such long-lived emission feature possesses great potential in biological fluorescence imaging because it enables a way regarding temporal dimension for separating the interference of autofluorescence and common noises typically encountered in conventional fluorescence imaging. Herein, we constructed a new type of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs)-based composite nanoparticles (NPs) with dual-color long-lived emission, namely millisecond-level green phosphorescence and sub-millisecond-level delayed red fluorescence by encapsulating a typical RTP dye and Rhodamine dye in the cavities of the MSNs with the former acting as energy donor (D) while the latter as acceptor (A). Benefiting from the close D-A proximity, energy match between the donor and the acceptor and the optimized D/A ratio in the composite NPs, efficient triplet-to-singlet Förster resonance energy transfer (TS-FRET) in the NPs occurred upon exciting the donor, which enabled dual-color long-lived emission. The preliminary results of dual-color correlation imaging of live cells based on such emission feature unequivocally verified the unique ability of such NPs for distinguishing the false positive generated by common emitters with single-color emission feature.     

Two-photon excitation of substituted enediynes

Electronic spectroscopy of nine benzannelated enediynes and a related fulvene was studied under one-photon and two-photon excitation conditions. We utilize measured absorbance and emission spectra and time-resolved fluorescence decays of these molecules to calculate their radiative lifetimes and fluorescence quantum yields. The fluorescence quantum yields for the other compounds were referenced to the fluorescence quantum yield of compound 3 and used to determine relative two-photon absorption cross-sections. Further insight into experimental studies has been achieved using time-dependent density functional (TD-DFT) computations. The probability of two-photon absorption (TPA) increases noticeably for excitation to the higher excited states. The photophysical properties of benzannelated enediynes are sensitive to substitutions at both the core and the periphery of the enediyne chromophore. Considerably enhanced two-photon absorption is observed in an enediyne with donor substitution in the middle and acceptor substitution at the termini. Excited states with B symmetry are not active in TPA spectra. From a practical point of view, this study extends the range of wavelengths applicable for activation of the enediyne moiety from 350 to 600 nm and provides a rational basis for future studies in this field. Our theoretical computations confirmed that lowest energy TPA in benzannelated enediynes involves different orbitals than lowest energy one-photon absorbance and provided further support to the notion that introduction of donor and acceptor substituents at different ends of a molecule increases TPA.     

Red/Near‐Infrared Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence OLEDs with Near 100 % Internal Quantum Efficiency

Developing red thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters, attainable for both high‐efficient red organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) and non‐doped deep red/near‐infrared (NIR) OLEDs, is challenging. Now, two red emitters, BPPZ‐PXZ and mDPBPZ‐PXZ, with twisted donor–acceptor structures were designed and synthesized to study molecular design strategies of high‐efficiency red TADF emitters. BPPZ‐PXZ employs the strictest molecular restrictions to suppress energy loss and realizes red emission with a photoluminescence quantum yield (Φ_PL) of 100±0.8 % and external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 25.2 % in a doped OLED. Its non‐doped OLED has an EQE of 2.5 % owing to unavoidable intermolecular π–π interactions. mDPBPZ‐PXZ releases two pyridine substituents from its fused acceptor moiety. Although mDPBPZ‐PXZ realizes a lower EQE of 21.7 % in the doped OLED, its non‐doped device shows a superior EQE of 5.2 % with a deep red/NIR emission at peak of 680 nm.     

Dual-Phase Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Luminogens: A Material for Time-Resolved Imaging Independent of Probe Pretreatment and Probe Concentration

Developing luminescent probes with long lifetime and high emission efficiency is essential for time-resolved imaging. However, the practical applications usually suffer from emission quenching of traditional luminogens in aggregated states, or from weak emission of aggregation-induced emission type luminogens in monomeric states. Herein, we overcome this dilemma by a rigid-and-flexible alternation design in donor–acceptor–donor skeletons, to achieve a thermally activated delayed fluorescence luminogen with high emission efficiency both in the monomeric state (quantum yield up to 35.3 %) and in the aggregated state (quantum yield up to 30.8 %). Such a dual-phase strong and long-lived emission allows a time-resolved luminescence imaging, with an efficiency independent of probe pretreatment and probe concentration. The findings open opportunities for developing luminescent probes with a usage in larger temporal and spatial scales.     

New Anthracene Derivatives as Triplet Acceptors for Efficient Green‐to‐Blue Low‐Power Upconversion

Three new anthracene derivatives [2‐chloro‐9,10‐dip‐tolylanthracene (DTACl), 9,10‐dip‐tolylanthracene‐2‐carbonitrile (DTACN), and 9,10‐di(naphthalen‐1‐yl)anthracene‐2‐carbonitrile (DNACN)] were synthesized as triplet acceptors for low‐power upconversion. Their linear absorption, single‐photon‐excited fluorescence, and upconversion fluorescence properties were studied. The acceptors exhibit high fluorescence yields in DMF. Selective excitation of the sensitizer Pd^IIoctaethylporphyrin (PdOEP) in solution containing DTACl, DTACN, or DNA‐CN at 532 nm with an ultralow excitation power density of 0.5 W cm^?2 results in anti‐Stokes blue emission. The maximum upconversion quantum yield (Φ_UC=17.4 %) was obtained for the couple PdOEP/DTACl. In addition, the efficiency of the triplet–triplet energy transfer process was quantitatively studied by quenching experiments. Experimental results revealed that a highly effective acceptor for upconversion should combine high fluorescence quantum yields with efficient quenching of the sensitizer triplet.     

Examination of chlorin-bacteriochlorin energy-transfer dyads as prototypes for near-infrared molecular imaging probes

Abstract New classes of synthetic chlorin and bacteriochlorin macrocycles are characterized by narrow spectral widths, tunable absorption and fluorescence features across the red and near-infrared (NIR) regions, tunable excited-state lifetimes (<1 to >10 ns) and chemical stability. Such properties make dyad constructs based on synthetic chlorin and bacteriochlorin units intriguing candidates for the development of NIR molecular imaging probes. In this study, two such dyads (FbC-FbB and ZnC-FbB) were investigated. The dyads contain either a free base (Fb) or zinc (Zn) chlorin (C) as the energy donor and a free base bacteriochlorin (B) as the energy acceptor. In both constructs, energy transfer from the chlorin to bacteriochlorin occurs with a rate constant of approximately (5 ps)(-1) and a yield of >99%. Thus, each dyad effectively behaves as a single chromophore with an exceptionally large Stokes shift (85 nm for FbC-FbB and 110 nm for ZnC-FbB) between the red-region absorption of the chlorin and the NIR fluorescence of the bacteriochlorin (lambda(f) = 760 nm, Phi(f) = 0.19, tau approximately 5.5 ns in toluene). The long-wavelength transitions (absorption, emission) of each constituent of each dyad exhibit narrow (相似文献   

Tm3+‐Sensitized NIR‐II Fluorescent Nanocrystals for In Vivo Information Storage and Decoding

In vivo fluorescence imaging in the second near‐infrared window (NIR‐II) affords deep‐tissue penetration and high spatial resolution. Herein, we present a new type of Tm³⁺‐sensitized lanthanide nanocrystals with both excitation (1208 nm) and emission (1525 nm) located in the NIR‐II window for in vivo optical information storage and decoding. Taking advantage of the tunable fluorescence lifetimes, the optical multiplexed encoding capacity is enhanced accordingly. Micro‐devices with QR codes featuring the NIR‐II fluorescence‐lifetime multiplexed encoding were implanted into mice and were successfully decoded through time‐gated fluorescence imaging technology.     

Self-location of acceptors as "isolated" or "stacked" energy traps in a supramolecular donor self-assembly: a strategy to wavelength tunable FRET emission

Control over supramolecular assemblies of donor and acceptor arrays in nanoscale dimension that facilitate efficient energy transfer resulting in tunable emission is an outstanding challenge. In pursuit of this goal, we have designed a supramolecular donor-acceptor organogel with tunable emission from green to red through controlled energy transfer by simply varying the acceptor concentration. Temperature-dependent UV/vis absorption, XRD, and AFM studies of the coassembly of 1 (donor) and 2 (acceptor) revealed the intercalation of 2 within the self-assembly of 1. Upon excitation of the decane gels of 1 with 0-2 mol % of 2, quenching of the emission of the former at 509 nm with the formation of the monomer emission of the latter at 555 nm is observed. Upon further addition of 2 (2-20 mol %), the emission was continuously red-shifted to 610 nm, which corresponds to the aggregate emission of 2. Consequently, a 98% quenching of the donor emission was observed at 509 nm. Fluorescence microscopic studies provided visual evidence for the color tuning of the FRET emission. Thus efficient trapping of excitons by "isolated" or "aggregated" acceptors through a subtle control of the self-assembly and the photophysical properties of the donor-acceptor building blocks allowed a continuous shifting of the emission color anywhere between green and red (lambdamax, 509-610 nm) in a supramolecular light harvesting system.     

Light Harvesting and White‐Light Generation in a Composite of Carbon Dots and Dye‐Encapsulated BSA‐Protein‐Capped Gold Nanoclusters

Several strategies have been adopted to design an artificial light‐harvesting system in which light energy is captured by peripheral chromophores and it is subsequently transferred to the core via energy transfer. A composite of carbon dots and dye‐encapsulated BSA‐protein‐capped gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) has been developed for efficient light harvesting and white light generation. Carbon dots (C‐dots) act as donor and AuNCs capped with BSA protein act as acceptor. Analysis reveals that energy transfer increases from 63 % to 83 % in presence of coumarin dye (C153), which enhances the cascade energy transfer from carbon dots to AuNCs. Bright white light emission with a quantum yield of 19 % under the 375 nm excitation wavelength is achieved by changing the ratio of components. Interesting findings reveal that the efficient energy transfer in carbon‐dot–metal‐cluster nanocomposites may open up new possibilities in designing artificial light harvesting systems for future applications.     

CdS量子点与曙红Y间的荧光共振能量转移研究

在水溶液中,量子点与有机荧光染料之间可能发生荧光共振能量转移(FRET)。本文以发射波长470nm的Cd S量子点为供体,曙红Y为受体,建立了Cd S量子点-曙红Y的FRET体系,研究了该体系的FRET参数。该体系受体供体数目比为8,猝灭效率为45.6%,增强效率为20.1%;供体-受体间的距离为4.4nm;临界能量转移距离为2.4nm。     

A New Robust and Highly Sensitive FRET Donor–Acceptor Pair: Synthesis,Characterization, and Application in a Thrombin Assay

The synthesis of a new, robust fluorescence‐resonance‐energy‐transfer (FRET) system is described. Its donor chromophore is derived from an N‐allyl‐substituted quinolinone attached to 4‐bromophenylalanine via Heck cross‐coupling. The resulting Fmoc‐protected derivative 11 was used as building block in solid‐phase peptide synthesis (SPPS). As FRET acceptor, a sulfonylated ruthenium(II)–bathophenanthroline complex with a peripheral COOH function was prepared for covalent attachment to target molecules. The UV/VIS absorption and emission spectra of peptides bearing only the donor (D) or acceptor (A) dye showed a good overlap of the emission band of the donor with the absorption band of the acceptor. The fluorescence spectra of a peptide bearing both dyes revealed an additional emission after excitation of the donor, which is due to indirect excitation of the acceptor via FRET. The long fluorescence lifetime of the Ru^II complex (0.53 μs) makes it well‐suited for time‐resolved measurements. As a first application of this new FRET system, the peptide 18 , with the recognition sequence for the protease thrombin, flanked by the two dyes, was synthesized and successfully cleaved by the enzyme. The change in the ratio of the fluorescence intensities could be determined.     

Tunable Dual Fluorescence of 3‐(2,2′‐Bipyridyl)‐Substituted Iminocoumarin

3‐(2,2′‐Bipyridyl)‐substituted iminocoumarin molecules (compounds 1 and 2 ) exhibit dual fluorescence. Each molecule has one electron donor and two electron acceptors that are in conjugation, which leads to fluorescence from two independent charge transfer (CT) states. To account for the dual fluorescence, we subscribe to a kinetic model in which both CT states form after rapid decays from the directly accessed S₁ and S₂ excited states. Due to the slow internal conversion from S₂ to S₁, or more likely the slow interconversion between the two subsequently formed CT states, dual emission is allowed to occur. This hypothesis is supported by the following evidence: 1) the emission at short and long ends of the spectrum originates from two different excitation spectra, which eliminates the possibility that dual emission occurs after an adiabatic reaction at the S₁ level. 2) The fluorescence quantum yield of compound 2 grows with increasing excitation wavelength, which indicates that the high‐energy excitation elevates the molecule to a weakly emissive state that does not internally convert to the low‐energy, highly emissive state. The intensity of the two emission bands of 1 is tunable through the specific interactions between either of the two electron acceptors with another species, such as Zn²⁺ in the current demonstration. Therefore, the development of ratiometric fluorescent indicators based on the dual‐emitting iminocoumarin system is conceivable. Further fundamental studies on this series of compounds using time‐resolved spectroscopic techniques, and explorations of their applications will be carried out in the near future.     

β-NaYF4：Yb,Er纳米晶与四甲基异氰酸罗丹明染料分子间的发光共振能量转移研究

Yb^3＋和Er^3＋离子掺杂的NaYF4纳米晶在近红外光（980nm）激发下可产生中心位于539和655nm的上转换发光,其中位于539nm的发光与四甲基异氰酸罗丹明（tetrametrylrhodarnine isothiocyante,TRITC）染料分子的吸收光谱部分重叠.本文基于上述光谱重叠特性,构筑了以β-NaYF4：Yb,Er为能量给体、TRITC为能量受体的发光共振能量转移（LRET）体系.TRITC分子通过静电作用紧密吸附于纳米晶表面,其较近距离的相互作用利于提高LRET效率和体系的稳定性.在980nm近红外光激发下,LRET过程使NaYF4：Yb,Er位于539nm的上转换发光减弱,同时可观察到TRITC染料分子的发光.对发光寿命的研究也证实了β-NaYF4：Yb,Er到TRITC的能量传递.