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Updated: Jan 26, 2026
Design and Characterization Methodology for Efficient Wide Range Tunable MEMS Filters
Published on: February 4, 2018
Facile synthesis of AIEgens with wide color tunability for cellular imaging and therapy
Wenhan Xu1, Michelle M S Lee1, Zhihan Zhang1
1Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction , Department of Chemistry , Institute of Molecular Functional Materials , State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience , Division of Biomedical Engineering , Division of Life Science , The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology , Clear Water Bay , Kowloon , Hong Kong , China .
Abstract:
Luminogens with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics are nowadays undergoing explosive development in the fields of imaging, process visualization, diagnosis and therapy. However, exploration of an AIE luminogen (AIEgen) system allowing for extremely wide color tunability remains challenging. In this contribution, the facile synthesis of triphenylamine (TPA)-thiophene building block-based AIEgens having tunable maximum emission wavelengths covering violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, deep red and NIR regions is reported. The obtained AIEgens can be utilized as extraordinary fluorescent probes for lipid droplet (LD)-specific cell imaging and cell fusion assessment, showing excellent image contrast to the cell background and high photostability, as well as satisfactory visualization outcomes. Interestingly, quantitative evaluation of the phototherapy effect demonstrates that one of these presented AIEgens, namely TTNIR, performs well as a photosensitizer for photodynamic ablation of cancer cells upon white light irradiation. This study thus provides useful insights into rational design of fluorescence systems for widely tuning emission colors with high brightness, and remarkably extends the applications of AIEgens.
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