An Easily Accessible Ionic Aggregation-Induced Emission Luminogen with Hydrogen-Bonding-Switchable Emission and Wash-Free Imaging Ability

Yuncong Chen; Weijie Zhang; Zheng Zhao; Yuanjing Cai; Junyi Gong; Ryan T K Kwok; Jacky W Y Lam; Herman H Y Sung; Ian D Williams; Ben Zhong Tang

doi:10.1002/anie.201800772

An Easily Accessible Ionic Aggregation-Induced Emission Luminogen with Hydrogen-Bonding-Switchable Emission and Wash-Free Imaging Ability

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2018 Apr 23;57(18):5011-5015. doi: 10.1002/anie.201800772. Epub 2018 Mar 23.

Authors

Yuncong Chen^{1

2}, Weijie Zhang², Zheng Zhao², Yuanjing Cai², Junyi Gong², Ryan T K Kwok², Jacky W Y Lam², Herman H Y Sung², Ian D Williams², Ben Zhong Tang^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ HKUST Shenzhen Research Institute, No. 9 Yuexing 1st RD, South Area, Hi-tech Park Nanshan, Shenzhen, 518057, China.
² Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, Division of Biomedical Engineering, Institute for Advanced Study and State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
³ NSFC Center for Luminescence from Molecular Aggregates, SCUT-HKUST Joint Research Institute, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, China.

PMID: 29512250
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201800772

Abstract

Ionic fluorophores are powerful tools for the study of environmental science and bio-imaging. However, traditional ionic dyes usually require long synthetic steps and suffer from a quenching effect caused by aggregation. A water-soluble ionic aggregation-induced emission luminogen called DBTA is presented, which is readily accessed by a one-step reaction. The switchable emission manipulated by hydrogen bonding provided solid evidence for the restriction of intramolecular motions as the mechanism of aggregation-induced emission. DBTA can not only differentiate solvents with different H-bond donor acidities but also capable of wash-free imaging in living HeLa cells and fish larva.

Keywords: aggregation-induced emission; hydrogen bonding; ionic fluorophores; non-covalent conformational locks; wash-free imaging.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't