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Updated: Jun 22, 2025

Synthesis of Near-Infrared Emitting Gold Nanoclusters for Biological Applications
Published on: March 22, 2020
Tetraphenylethene-based mononuclear aggregation-induced emission (AIE)-active mechanofluorochromism gold(I) complexes
Xiao-Wen Deng1, Shanting Liu1, Congbin Fan1
1Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Organic Functional Molecules, Institute of Organic Chemistry, Jiangxi Science and Technology Normal University, Nanchang 330013, PR China.
Abstract:
In this study, a series of tetraphenylethene-containing gold(I) complexes with different auxiliary ligands have been synthesized. These complexes were characterized using a variety of techniques including nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and single crystal X-ray diffraction. Their aggregation-induced emission (AIE) behaviors were investigated through ultraviolet/visible and photoluminescence spectrum analyses, and dynamic light scattering measurements. Meanwhile, their mechanofluorochromic properties were also studied via solid-state photoluminescence spectroscopy. Intriguingly, all these mononuclear gold(I) molecules functionalized by tetraphenylethene group demonstrated AIE phenomena. Furthermore, five gold(I) complexes possessing diverse auxiliary ligands exhibited distinct fluorescence changes in response to mechanical grinding. For luminogens 2-5, their solids showed reversible mechanofluorochromic behaviors triggered by the mutual transformation of crystalline and amorphous states, while for luminogen 1, blue-green-cyan three-color solid fluorescence conversion was realized by sequential mechanical grinding and solvent fumigation. Based on this stimuli-responsive tricolored fluorescence feature of 1, an information encryption system was successfully constructed.
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