Anion-π Type Aggregation-Induced Emission Luminogens

As a type of important non-covalent interactions that can efficiently prohibit π-π interaction to avoid quenching of luminescence, anion-π interactions are receiving growing attention for the fabrication of aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) since 2017. The obtained anion-π type AIEgens can be applied in the fields of wash-free bioimaging and long-term tracking of subcellular organelle, photodynamic anti-cancer and anti-bacterial therapy due to their good water solubility, superior photostability and excellent reactive oxygen species generation ability. Moreover, anion-π type AIEgens were also further constructed for room temperature phosphorescence by taking advantages of the heavy-atom participated anion-π interactions. This concept article provides a brief summary of this field, mainly focusing on the design strategy, photophysical properties and applications of anion-π type AIEgens.