Themed collection FOCUS: Recent progress on aggregation-induced emission

This review summarizes the progress of AIE polymers in sensing, imaging and theranostic applications in the recent 3 years, and the perspective and future development of AIE polymers are discussed briefly.

In this review, we introduce the recent progress on the employment of AIE-active materials for healthcare-related applications, such as clinical diagnosis, theragnosis, disease mechanism studies and personalized medicines.

The marriage of AIEgens and organometallic complexes has shown great potential in biological probes and photosensitizers.

The emergence and global spread of bacterial infections in clinical practice has become a public health problem. We provide a detailed and comprehensive summary of the application of AIEgens for bacterial detection and treatments.

This review summarizes recent advances in AIE-based chemosensors for the detection of a wide range of metal cations, outlining the various sensing mechanisms and sensing performances such as sensitivity and selectivity of AIE-based chemosensors.

Herein, the latest progress of AIEgens for application in wash-free detection and bioimaging was reviewed.

This review summarizes the latest advancement of nanoprobes with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) for image-guided therapy.

Through multiscale modeling, it is predicted that TSSSSI is a potential candidate for NIR-II FLI-guided PDT–PTT therapy.

The integration of second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopic imaging and aggregation-induced emission fluorescence imaging would greatly boost the imaging outcomes because of the combination of merits in each imaging modality.

A cationization and cyano introduction molecular engineering strategy is reported to develop AIE-active photosensitizers for high-efficiency PDT eradication of drug-resistant bacteria.

Mitochondria- and nucleus-targeted photodynamic therapy (PDT) to locally destruct organelles that play vital roles in physiologic processes holds great promise.

This work presents the highly efficient photodynamic combat of viruses by employing three isoquinolinium-based photosensitizers with aggregation-induced emission characteristics.

Detection of 3-aminopyridine by tris-tetrazole based organogelator G8 through donor–acceptor mechanism.

This work provides a naphthaldehyde-based Schiff base with reversible multiple stimuli-responsive behaviour of AIEE mechanochromic luminescence, which functions as a sensitive chemosensor for Cu²⁺ ions.

AIE-active PyDPACNs with tunable emission covering visible light region were facilely constructed. Role reversal of pyridinyl was revealed. Synergistic light-activated and dark cytotoxicity made PyDPACN-TCF promising for image-guided dual-therapy.

We synthesized 1,1,2,3,4,5-hexaphenyl-1H-silole (HPS) crystals to develop organic crystal scintillators based on aggregation-induced emission (AIE).

An aggregation-induced emission (AIE) active light up fluorescent probe (TCFPB-AChE) was developed for selective in vitro and in vivo imaging of acetylcholinesterase activity.

Antibody decorated nanoparticles with brightly red emissions are promising probes for targeted detection of cancer cells due to their excellent specificity, deep penetration depth, high photostability and low phototoxicity.

We first report an AIE probe EDS for rapid CMC determination of anionic and non-ionic surfactants in an environmentally friendly system.

The synthesis of the AIE fluorescent supramolecular polymer TPE-B@Q[10] is reported. This system exhibits excellent blue emission properties, good biocompatibility and was successfully employed for cytoplasmic imaging of cells.

Three rhomboidal metallacycles are formed by metal-ligand interactions. Due to the integration of AIEgens and ACQphores, metallacycles exhibit tunable emission. And the amphiphilic structures promote the formation of micelles used for cell imaging.

We employ the molecular design strategy of introducing multiple weak interactions and twisted molecular structure into the same molecular system to synthesize a new AIEgen, which exhibited stimuli-responsive crystalline tricolor fluorescent switching.

An AIE-active isoquinoline derivative containing ethyl (E)-2-cyano-3-phenylacrylate unusually has four crystalline structures which exhibit reversible and tetracolour switching mechanofluorochromic activities.

We report the first single AIEgen that has great potential for dual-imaging of mitochondria/LDs, detection of cell viability and simultaneously photodynamic ablation of cancer cells.

AIE-active N-arylated ferrocenyl pyrazoles show SHG efficiencies and used as highly selective and sensitive fluorescent sensors for the detection of picric acid in mixed aqueous media.

A silver cluster of Ag₂₄ containing an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) ligand was prepared and used as a potential chemosensor for detecting ethion in water dominated solutions, and exhibited good selectivity and sensitivity.

The aggregation mechanism of an AIE-active Ir(III) complex 1 with irregular emission has been studied. The living supramolecular polymerization of 1 has been successfully performed and the sizes of supramolecular polymers can be controlled.

A novel fluorenone-based luminescent material with multi-stimuli responsive and multi-functional properties is reported.

Because of the steady increase in multi-drug-resistant bacterial infections, we developed a viable treatment strategy using new antibacterial nanomaterials with photosensitizing effects.

A natural AIE-active PS (PaH) is utilized to bind into DNA-T for cancer theranostics. The constructed PaH@DNA-T exhibits highly boosted fluorescence intensity and ROS generation, as well as much higher cell uptake efficiency.

A probe was synthesized that could detect Zn²⁺ using AIE in plants and zebrafish.

A series of novel AIE-active 9,10-azaboraphenanthrene-containing viologens (BNPV²⁺) for electrochromism, electrofluorochromism and reversible data encryption system is reported.

A single-molecule-triggered photo-theranostic platform with aggregation-induced emission feature for precise diagnosis and efficient cancer therapy is developed.

The use of biologically-derived nanoparticles from mung beans for combination chemo-ferroptosis therapy and magnetic resonance imaging is reported, which highlights the potential of the nanoparticles for biomedical applications.

A versatile red/near-infrared AIE probe, TTPy-H₂O₂, was developed for the specific visualization of H₂O₂ with mitochondria targeting ability, meanwhile achieving efficient photodynamic therapy for cancer cells.

TPE-Py inhibits the growth of tumor cells by inducing apoptotic and autophagic cell death, and the effect could be enhanced by white light irradiation. TPE-Py enhances the anticancer activity of Ptx by inducing apoptosis by white light irradiation.

Here we present organic AIE nanoparticles that feature high absorption cross-section under NIR-IIa three-photon excitation, which enables ultra-deep three-photon fluorescence imaging in the in vivo mouse brain.

A near-infrared AIE probe was developed for super-resolution imaging and nuclear lipid droplets dynamic study with good biocompatibility and high photostability.

Nowadays, the rational design of a mechanochromic luminescent (ML) material with ultra-sensitivity toward external stimuli is a greatly challenging task.

C6-BD equipped with AIE and ESIPT characteristics was used to visualize the cell membrane with high selectivity, stability, and wash-free operation. It also universal for imaging of bacteria and fungi with light-excited killing via ROS generation.

A novel strategy to prepare fluorescent polymeric nanoparticles based on aggregation-induced emission via precipitation polymerization for fluorescent lateral flow assay.

A aggregation-induced emission-characterized tetracoordinated organoboron complex-based probe for the turn-on detection of fluoride ion is reported.

New triphenylethylene-phenanthrocarbazole (PCTrPE) was the first small molecule that exhibited dual fluorescence emission in the solid state providing a new strategy to realize a single-molecule white emissive material for white OLEDs.

A facile synthesized AIE bioprobe was developed to detect peroxynitrite sensitively and specifically. This bioprobe can realize both in vitro ONOO⁻ detection and in vivo visualization of inflammation.

A nanoprobe responsive to specific biomarkers with aggregation-induced emission has been developed for locating and guiding resection of tumors via optoacoustic and fluorescence imaging.

An easily available ratiometric fluorescent probe (TCFPB-HNO) with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics was developed for the first time for the detection and visualization of nitroxyl (HNO) in vitro and in vivo.

Host–guest interactions, including hydrophobic interactions, intermolecular H-bonds and O–H⋯π interactions, play important roles in the photophysical properties of amphiphilic AIEgens.

We present a two-photon AIEgen, ABCXF with nonaromatic rotors (–CF₃), a high two-photon absorption cross-section, bright red emission in the solid-state, and remarkably high photostability for fatty liver disease diagnosis.

A synergetic imaging platform was established to achieve LDs-specific imaging by STED nanoscopy and TPF microscopy. Benefiting from its high PLQYs, outstanding photo-stability, and high LDs specificity, a superior resolution in cells and a deep penetration depth in tissues were achieved.

Supramolecular nanoparticles with enhanced aggregation-induced emission are prepared by taking advantage of pillar[5]arene-based host–guest complexation, and are sophisticated nanocarriers for imaging-guided drug delivery.

Three quinoline-based TADF emitters with aggregation-induced emission were synthesized and fabricated for efficient non-doped OLEDs with EQE_max up to 17.3%.

A self-assembled microsphere resonator, comprising a hygroscopic polymer with aggregation-induced emission luminogen pendants, can sense humidity with high sensitivity and repeatability.

The aggregation-induced emission (AIE) bioprobe, DPAS can rapidly and easily detect lipid drops in Euglena gracilis as highly valued metabolites under nitrogen and calcium deprivation and glucose supplementation in darkness.

A fluorescent POP film (polyPhTPECz) which acted as an excellent multifunctional and reusable fluorescent probe was prepared by using an electropolymerization (EP) method.

An AIE-ESIPT-active compound was rationally designed and facilely developed, which exhibits multifunctional applications in inkless rewritable paper, a colorimetric/fluorescent dual-channel sensor for Zn²⁺ ions and fluorescence imaging of Zn²⁺ ions in living cells.

An organic small molecule T-BDP with D–A–D structure was designed and synthesized and could self-assemble into nanoparticles with significant AIE performance. Under 635 nm laser irradiation, T-BDP NPs ablate cancer cells through photodynamic/photothermal synergistic effects.