Impact of Heteroatom Substitution on Dual-State Emissive Rigidified 2-(2’-hydroxyphenyl)benzazole Dyes: Towards Ultra-Bright ESIPT Fluorophores**

2-(2’-Hydroxyphenyl)benzazole (HBX) fluorophores are well-known excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) emitters largely studied for their synthetic versatility, photostability, strong solid-state fluorescence and ability to engineer dual emission, thus paving the way to applications as white emitters, ratiometric sensors, and cryptographic dyes. However, they are heavily quenched in solution, due to efficient non-radiative pathways taking place as a consequence of the proton transfer in the excited-state. In this contribution, the nature of the heteroring constitutive of these rigidified HBX dyes was modified and we demonstrate that this simple structural modification triggers major optical changes in terms of emission color, dual emission engineering, and importantly, fluorescent quantum yield. Investigation of the photophysical properties in solution and in the solid state of a series of ethynyl-TIPS extended HBX fluorophores, along with ab initio calculations demonstrate the very promising abilities of these dyes to act as bright dual-state emitters, in both solution (even in protic environments) and solid state.     

聚集诱导发光机理研究

与传统荧光生色团聚集后导致荧光猝灭相反,有一类化合物在单分子状态下荧光微弱甚至观察不到荧光,而在聚集状态下荧光显著增强,这就是聚集诱导发光(AIE)现象。AIE现象独特的优越性使得众多研究组开发出越来越多的新AIE体系,其机理也被广泛而深入地研究。本文总结了目前为止已经提出的AIE机理,包括分子内旋转受限、分子内共平面、抑制光物理过程或光化学反应、非紧密堆积、形成J-聚集体以及形成特殊激基缔合物等;着重评述了目前研究最为全面、适用范围最广的分子内旋转受限机理。同时介绍了一些基于这些机理设计的新AIE体系。     

Aggregation-induced emission luminogens and tunable multicolor polymer networks modulated by dynamic covalent chemistry

Aggregation-induced emission(AIE) based luminescent materials are generating intensive interest due to their unique fluorescence in the aggregation state. Herein we report a strategy of dynamic covalent chemistry(DCC) controlled AIE luminogens for the regulation of multicolor emission in reversible covalent polymer networks. Tetraphenylethene derived ring-chain tautomers were prepared, and the emission was readily controlled through multimode, such as changing the solvent, adding the base, and d...     

High-Performance Quinoline-Malononitrile Core as a Building Block for the Diversity-Oriented Synthesis of AIEgens

In vivo fluorescent monitoring of physiological processes with high-fidelity is essential in disease diagnosis and biological research, but faces extreme challenges due to aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) and short-wavelength fluorescence. The development of high-performance and long-wavelength aggregation-induced emission (AIE) fluorophores is in high demand for precise optical bioimaging. The chromophore quinoline-malononitrile (QM) has recently emerged as a new class of AIE building block that possesses several notable features, such as red to near-infrared (NIR) emission, high brightness, marked photostability, and good biocompatibility. In this minireview, we summarize some recent advances of our established AIE building block of QM, focusing on the AIE mechanism, regulation of emission wavelength and morphology, the facile scale-up and fast preparation for AIE nanoparticles, as well as potential biomedical imaging applications.     

An ESIPT-Dependent AIE Fluorophore Based on HBT Derivative: Substituent Positional Impact on Aggregated Luminescence and its Application for Hydrogen Peroxide Detection

Aiming to develop the facile organic fluorophore possessing excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) and aggregation-induced emission (AIE), we designed and synthesized two isomers with different linkage site between hydroxyl of 2-(2-hydroxyphenyl) benzothiazole (HBT) and a benzothiazole substituent (para position refers to p-BHBT and ortho position refers to o-BHBT). Fluorescence emission properties of p-BHBT and o-BHBT in THF/water mixtures with different water volume fractions indicated an opposite luminescence in aggregates, in which p-BHBT showed an ESIPT-dependent AIE properties while o-BHBT displayed ESIPT effect and aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) qualities. A possible mechanism for molecular actions to illustrate the aggregating luminescence alteration of these two isomers had been proposed and verified by theoretical and experimental studies. More importantly, Probe-1, generated from dual ESIPT-AIE fluorophore p-BHBT, was successfully used as a ratiometric fluorescent chemosensor for highly selective (above 15-fold over other ROS) and sensitive (69-fold fluorescence enhancement with 0.22 μM of detection limit) detection of hydrogen peroxide in aqueous solution and living cells, respectively.     

High‐Performance Quinoline‐Malononitrile Core as a Building Block for the Diversity‐Oriented Synthesis of AIEgens

In vivo fluorescent monitoring of physiological processes with high‐fidelity is essential in disease diagnosis and biological research, but faces extreme challenges due to aggregation‐caused quenching (ACQ) and short‐wavelength fluorescence. The development of high‐performance and long‐wavelength aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) fluorophores is in high demand for precise optical bioimaging. The chromophore quinoline‐malononitrile (QM) has recently emerged as a new class of AIE building block that possesses several notable features, such as red to near‐infrared (NIR) emission, high brightness, marked photostability, and good biocompatibility. In this minireview, we summarize some recent advances of our established AIE building block of QM, focusing on the AIE mechanism, regulation of emission wavelength and morphology, the facile scale‐up and fast preparation for AIE nanoparticles, as well as potential biomedical imaging applications.     

Photoactivatable Aggregation‐Induced Emission Fluorophores with Multiple‐Color Fluorescence and Wavelength‐Selective Activation

Photoactivatable (caged) fluorophores are widely used in chemistry, materials, and biology. However, the development of such molecules exhibiting photoactivable solid‐state fluorescence is still challenging due to the aggregation‐caused quenching (ACQ) effect of most fluorophores in their aggregate or solid states. In this work, we developed caged salicylaldehyde hydrazone derivatives, which are of aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) characteristics upon light irradiation, as efficient photoactivatable solid‐state fluorophores. These compounds displayed multiple‐color emissions and ratiometric (photochromic) fluorescence switches upon wavelength‐selective photoactivation, and were successfully applied for photopatterning and photoactivatable cell imaging in a multiple‐color and stepwise manner.     

Palladium-Catalyzed Cascade Reaction in Water to Imidazo[1,2-a]pyridazines as Switchable DSEgens,AIEgens, and ACQgens**

Dual-state emission (DSE) luminophores exhibit strong emissions in both solution and solid states, filling the gaps between aggregation-induced emissions (AIE) and aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ). However, limited design concepts and complicated synthetic strategies restrict the discovery of novel DSE molecules. Developing efficient and green methodologies to access novel DSE scaffolds via rational design remains highly desirable. In this work, we report a water-promoted Pd-catalyzed cascade reaction for the synthesis of multi-substituted imidazo[1,2-a]pyridazine derivatives with DSE properties. The intramolecular interactions of the neighboring benzene rings restrict molecular motion, leading to emissions in the solid state (quantum yield: 11 %), and the newly constructed core structure of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridazine ensures considerable planarity, allowing for emissions in solution. Further removal of the neighboring phenyl groups resulted in ACQgens, while additional methyl groups led to AIEgens. Subsequent live cell imaging investigations suggested that the novel DSEgens could serve as specific lipid droplet (LD) probes in a wide concentration range.     

A Solvent-Mediated Excited-State Intermolecular Proton Transfer Fluorescent Probe for Fe3+ Sensing and Cell Imaging

Constructing excited-state intermolecular proton transfer (ESIPT-e) fluorophores represents significant challenges due to the harsh requirement of bearing a proton donor-acceptor (D-A) system and their matching proton donating-accepting ability in the same molecule. Herein, we synthesized a new-type ESIPT-e fluorophor (2-APC) using the “four-component one-pot” reaction. By the installing of a cyano-group on pyridine scaffold, the proton donating ability of -NH₂ was greatly enhanced, enabling 2-APC to undergo ESIPT-e process. Surprisingly, 2-APC exhibited dual-emissions in protic solvents ethanol and normal fluorescence in aprotic solvents, which is vastly different from that of conventional ESIPT-a dyes. The ESIPT emission can be obviously suppressed by Fe³⁺ due to the coordination reaction of Fe³⁺ with the A-D system in 2-APC. From this basis, a highly sensitive and selective method was established using 2-APC as a fluorescent probe, which offers the sensitive detection of Fe³⁺ ranging from 0 to 13 μM with the detection limit of 7.5 nM. The recovery study of spiked Fe³⁺ measured by the probe showed satisfactory results (97.2103.4%) with the reasonable RSD ranging from 3.1 to 3.8%. Moreover, 2-APC can also exhibit aggregation-induced effect in poor solvent or solid-state, eliciting strong red fluorescence. 2-APC was also applied to cell-imaging, exhibiting good cell-permeability, biocompatibility and color rendering. This multi-mode emission of 2-APC is significant departure from that of conventional extended p-conjugated systems and ESIPT dyes based on a flat and rigid molecular design. The “one-pot synthesis” strategy for the construction of ESIPT molecules pioneered a new route to achieve tricolor-emissive fluorophores.     

Biocompatible organic dots with aggregation-induced emission for in vitro and in vivo fluorescence imaging

Fluorescent probes play a key role in modern biomedical research. As compared to inorganic quantum dots (QDs) composed with heavy metal elements, organic dye-based fluorescent nanoparticles have higher biocompatibility and are richer in variety. However, traditional organic fluorophores tend to quench fluorescence upon aggregation, which is known as aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) effect that hinders the fabrication of highly emissive fluorescent nanoparticles. In this work, we demonstrate the synthesis of organic fluorescent dots with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) in far-red/near-infrared (FA/NIR) region. A conventional ACQ-characteristic fluorescent dye, 3,4:9,10-tetracarboxylic perylene bisimide (PBI), is converted into an AIE fluorogen through attaching two tetraphenylethylene (TPE) moieties. The fluorescent dots with surface folic acid groups are fabricated from PBI derivative (DTPEPBI), showing specific targeting effect to folate receptor-overexpressed cancer cells. In vivo studies also suggest that the folic acid-functionalized AIE dots preferentially accumulate in the tumor site through enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect and folate receptor-mediated active targeting effect. The low cyto-toxicity, good FR/NIR contrast and excellent targeting ability in in vitro/in vivo imaging indicate that the AIE dots have great potentials in advanced bioimaging applications.     

Topology-Controlled AIEE of Iminocoumarin Luminophores

Aggregation-induced emission enhancement (AIEE) is an unusual phenomenon where luminophores show a higher photoluminescence efficiency in the aggregated and solid state. We report the design and synthesis of a series of luminophores 1 – 4 with imine functionality at 6 position of coumarin and studied their AIE propensities on self-assembly. The effect of the topology of the phenolic hydroxyl group on the emission behaviour of the luminophores has been investigated. The imines show significant solvatochromism with high emission in non-polar solvents, whereas the emission gets quenched in the polar solvent. The fluorescence in the toluene-hexane mixture arises due to the aggregation of fluorophores and falls under the category of AIEE. Not only the solution state emission of the isomeric iminocoumarin luminophores is notably varied, but also their solid-state emission found to be significantly different from each other. Moreover, the iminocoumarin 1 selectively recognizes Fe(III) over Fe(II) with a prominent color change. In situ oxidation of Fe(II) with H₂O₂ exhibits the same effect like Fe(III) and developed a chemical combinational logic gate.     

聚集诱导发光分子的光电功能与器件应用

光电功能分子通常以薄膜和聚集体的形式显示功能, 聚集诱导发光（AIE）分子体系的发现为解决固态下聚集诱导荧光猝灭（ACQ）难题提供了新的思路. 本文总结了近年来本课题组发展的一系列AIE 分子, 侧重介绍这些AIE 分子的光电功能与器件应用, 特别是在有机电致发光器件和有机激光方面的应用. AIE 材料显示非常高的电致发光效率, 在显示与白光器件方面潜力巨大. 在发展电泵有机激光方面, AIE 材料特点突出, 是最有前景的一类材料.     

Hybridization Assay by Time-Resolved Capillary Gel Electrophoresis with a Lanthanide Chelate

Capillary electrophoresis of crude biological samples with time-resolved fluorescence (TRF) detection enables elimination of interference from organic fluorophores and from light scattering. Because the fluorescence lifetime of biological substances and impurities overlaps the fluorescence lifetime of conventional labeling dyes, TRF detection with conventional organic labeling dyes suffers from background fluorescence. In this work, we synthesized a luminescent lanthanide chelating reagent to covalently bind the 5′-end of DNA through its dichroic functional group while retaining the unique luminescent properties of the lanthanide chelate, i.e. large Stokes shift, sharp emission, and a long luminescence lifetime in the microsecond to millisecond range. The luminescence of lanthanide chelates is inherently quenched by dissociation of the central metals in typical biological buffers containing a strong chelator, for example EDTA or phosphate; the synthesized Eu³⁺ chelate reagent, however, was stable even in EDTA solutions. In addition to stability in biological buffer solution, the synthesized Eu³⁺ chelate reagent enabled direct labeling of single-stranded oligonucleotides, and was used for DNA hybridization assay by time-resolved capillary gel electrophoresis. DNA hybridization assay in fetal bovine serum was also demonstrated.     

Bridged Stilbenes: AIEgens Designed via a Simple Strategy to Control the Non-radiative Decay Pathway

To broaden the application of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminogens (AIEgens), the design of novel small-molecular dyes that exhibit high fluorescence quantum yield (Φ_fl) in the solid state is required. Considering that the mechanism of AIE can be rationalized based on steric avoidance of non-radiative decay pathways, a series of bridged stilbenes was designed, and their non-radiative decay pathways were investigated theoretically. Bridged stilbenes with short alkyl chains exhibited a strong fluorescence emission in solution and in the solid state, while bridged stilbenes with long alkyl chains exhibited AIE. Based on this theoretical prediction, we developed the bridged stilbenes BPST[7] and DPB[7], which demonstrate excellent AIE behavior.     

Recent Advances of AIE-Active Conjugated Polymers: Synthesis and Application

Conjugated polymers (CPs) have long been recognized as an important class of materials. The highly conjugated backbone of the CPs will facilitate the rapid exciton migration and result in amplification of fluorescence signals. However, CPs are likely to aggregate and form excimers in solid states, directly leading to the fluorescence quenching, namely aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ), hence inhibiting their prospective utilizations in a large degree. Since the effect of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) is opposite to that of notorious ACQ, the AIE has raised great attention from scientists. CPs with AIE or aggregation-enhanced emission (AEE) features may help to solve the ACQ problem and meanwhile impart polymers with new properties and practical applications. In this review, we summarize the recent progress on the preparation of CPs with AIE or AEE characteristics, where AIE-active luminogens are located at polymer backbones or pendants. Their potential applications including fluorescent sensors, biological probes, and active layers for the fabrication of light-emitting diodes are also described.     

Synthesis and Design of Aggregation‐Induced Emission Surfactants: Direct Observation of Micelle Transitions and Microemulsion Droplets

The direct visualization of micelle transitions is a long‐standing challenge owing to the intractable aggregation‐caused quenching of light emission in the micelle solution. Herein, we report the synthesis of a surfactant with a tetraphenylethene (TPE) core and aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) characteristics. The transition processes of surfactant micelles and the microemulsion droplets (MEDs) formed by the surfactant with a TPE core were clearly visualized by a high‐contrast fluorescence imaging method. The fluorescence intensity of the MEDs decreased as the size of MEDs increased as a result of weakening of the restriction of intramolecular rotation (RIR). The results of this study deepen our understanding of micelle‐transition processes and provide solid evidence in favor of the hypothesis that the AIE phenomenon has its origin in the RIR of fluorophores in the aggregate state.     

Configuration-Induced Multichromism of Phenanthridine Derivatives: A Type of Versatile Fluorescent Probe for Microenvironmental Monitoring

Fluorescent probes are attractive in diagnosis and sensing. However, most reported fluorophores can only detect one or few analytes/parameters, notably limiting their applications. Here we have designed three phenanthridine-based fluorophores (i.e., B1 , F1 , and T1 with 1D, 2D, and 3D molecular configuration, respectively) capable of monitoring various microenvironments. In rigidifying media, all fluorophores show bathochromic emissions but with different wavelength and intensity changes. Under compression, F1 shows a bathochromic emission of over 163 nm, which results in organic fluorophore-based full-color piezochromism. Moreover, both B1 and F1 exhibit an aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) behavior, while T1 is an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) fluorophore. Further, F1 and T1 selectively concentrate in cell nucleus, whereas B1 mainly stains the cytoplasm in live cell imaging. This work provides a general design strategy of versatile fluorophores for microenvironmental monitoring.     

Aggregation-Induced Emission by Molecular Design: A Route to High-Performance Light-Emitting Electrochemical Cells

The emission efficiency of organic semiconductors (OSCs) often suffers from aggregation caused quenching (ACQ). An elegant solution is aggregation-induced emission (AIE), which constitutes the design of the OSC so that its morphology inhibits quenching π–π interactions and non-radiative motional deactivation. The light-emitting electrochemical cell (LEC) can be sustainably fabricated, but its function depends on motion of bulky ions in proximity of the OSC. It is therefore questionable whether the AIE morphology can be retained during LEC operation. Here, we synthesize two structurally similar OSCs, which are distinguished by that 1 features ACQ while 2 delivers AIE. Interestingly, we find that the AIE-LEC significantly outperforms the ACQ-LEC. We rationalize our finding by showing that the AIE morphology remains intact during LEC operation, and that it can feature appropriately sized free-volume voids for facile ion transport and suppressed non-radiative excitonic deactivation.     

Bridged Stilbenes: AIEgens Designed via a Simple Strategy to Control the Non‐radiative Decay Pathway

To broaden the application of aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) luminogens (AIEgens), the design of novel small‐molecular dyes that exhibit high fluorescence quantum yield (Φ_fl) in the solid state is required. Considering that the mechanism of AIE can be rationalized based on steric avoidance of non‐radiative decay pathways, a series of bridged stilbenes was designed, and their non‐radiative decay pathways were investigated theoretically. Bridged stilbenes with short alkyl chains exhibited a strong fluorescence emission in solution and in the solid state, while bridged stilbenes with long alkyl chains exhibited AIE. Based on this theoretical prediction, we developed the bridged stilbenes BPST[7] and DPB[7], which demonstrate excellent AIE behavior.     

Aggregation‐Induced Emission with Long‐Lived Room‐Temperature Phosphorescence from Methylene‐Linked Organic Donor–Acceptor Structures

Aggregation‐caused quenching (ACQ), where excited‐state and/or ground‐state electronic structures are altered to exhibit an increased proclivity for non‐radiative decay for the aggregates, is largely responsible for the lack of fluorescence and phosphorescence in molecular solids in general. Here we show that ACQ could be effectively circumvented by constructing an aromatic system with a methylene‐linker, where the system exhibits typical aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) with long‐lived room‐temperature phosphorescence, since the tetrahedral structure in the solid state may significantly reduce strong intermolecular interactions contributing to ACQ.