AIEgens for in vitro and in vivo pathogen visualization
Infectious diseases remain a major global health threat, with challenges such as delayed diagnosis and multidrug resistance.
Advances in AIE-based solid-state fluorescent photoswitches
Photoswitchable molecules offer rapid response, reversibility, and fatigue resistance, with great potential in anti-counterfeiting, super-resolution imaging, optical storage, and sensing.
Aggregation-induced emission sonosensitizers: molecular engineering and biomedical applications
This Feature Article highlights recent advances of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) sonosensitizers for biomedical applications, providing new insights into the design of organic sonosensitizers and accelerating their clinical translation.
Aggregation-induced emission in synthetic macrocycle-based supramolecular systems
This review article covers the design and synthesis of macrocyclic compounds-based supramolecular systems and materials with aggregation-induced emission properties and broad application potentials.
Cyano π-bridge manipulated NIR-II AIEgens for tumor photothermal therapy
A cyano-functionalized π-bridge in DPP-TCBD nanoparticles enhances photothermal conversion efficiency (43%) and NIR-II fluorescence, providing a novel strategy for effective tumor photothermal therapy and imaging.
Efficient long-lived circularly polarized luminescence from cholesteric liquid crystalline polymer networks
Several liquid crystalline polymer network films with bright long-lived circularly polarized luminescence have been fabricated, which exhibit luminescence dissymmetry factors up to −0.93, quantum yields up to 80% and lifetimes up to 763 ms.
Thienyl flanked bis(aminoborane)s as inorganic–organic hybrid AIEgens
Modification of p-phenylene-bridged bis(aminoborane)s, which function as organic–inorganic hybrid AIEgens, with terminal thienyl or phenyl moieties leads to significantly modified photophysical properties.
Acceptor Engineering in Triphenylamine-Based Push-Pull Dyes for Enhanced Photosensitization
An endoplasmic reticulum-targeted NIR-II type I AIE photosensitiser for triggering pyroptosis
An NIR-II type I photosensitizer with an aggregation-induced emission effect was developed to selectively stain the endoplasmic reticulum, which further triggered pyroptotic cell death under 635 nm laser irradiation.
Charge-transfer modulated chiroptical azacyclooctatetraene-fused [5]helicenes with AIE features
Integrating eight-membered diazacyclooctatetraene-fused aza[5]helicene scaffolds with tailored charge-transfer yields AIE-active CP-TADF emitters exhibiting broad spectral tunability (555–842 nm) and strong chiroptical activity (|gPL| ≈ 1.5 × 10−2).
The photoluminescence behaviour of monosubstituted non-benzenoid polycyclic-aromatic-substituted ortho-carboranes
Replacing one (NTP) or two (BDT) terminal benzenoid rings with thiophenes in ortho-carborane substituted anthracene analogues leads to marked changes in photoluminesence behaviour.
Regulation of the frontier molecular orbitals and photophysical properties of boron tropolonate complexes by regioselective functionalization
Regioselective functionalization of boron tropolonates, which consist of an even-electron/odd-atom π-system, results in selective control of molecular orbital energy.
Use of aggregation-induced emission for detection of molecular motion during solvent evaporative crystallization of α-substituted dibenzoylmethanatoboron difluoride complex
Hierarchical changes in molecular motion during evaporative crystallization were studied based on excited-state dynamics of the AIE molecule, visualizing liquid-like clusters as nucleation precursors and providing insights into polymorph formation.
A J-aggregating cyanine-based NIR-II optical sensor for DNA aptamer-mediated detection and imaging of quinine
A NIR-II dye-displacement assay integrating a quinine-specific aptamer with a J-aggregating cyanine dye enables sensitive, selective detection and fluorescence imaging of quinine under physiological conditions.
Positional isomerism-directed formation of hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks with distinct single-crystal transformation pathways
Positional isomers drive the formation of emissive cage- and channel-type hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks with distinct single-crystal transformation behaviors.
A trident-like multi-cationic photosensitizer with stabilized membrane camouflage for efficient tumor-targeted photodynamic therapy
We report a novel trident-like multi-cation photosensitizer (PS) with stabilized membrane camouflage for efficient tumor-targeted photodynamic therapy. Its rational design boosts ROS generation and overcomes PS leakage in biomimetic delivery systems.
Balancing UV-to-blue light conversion by membrane-embedded AIE antennas for enhanced photosynthesis
Cationic tetraphenylethylene-based amphiphiles were developed as AIE-active membrane antennas for balanced ultraviolet to blue light conversion to enhance algal photosynthesis.
Planar chiral orange-red TADF materials with AIE properties for efficient circularly polarized OLEDs
Two orange-red planar chiral thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters exhibit aggregation-induced emission. Their organic light-emitting diodes and circularly polarized devices show low efficiency roll-offs and high dissymmetry factors.
Triptycene-fused multi-resonance TADF material endows high-efficiency electroluminescence and low efficiency roll-off
The triptycene-fused MR-TADF emitter exhibits an EQEmax of 27.0% and low efficiency roll-off, advancing high-performance MR-TADF materials.
Efficient supramolecular artificial light-harvesting systems based on an AIE-active calix[4]arene derivative for cross-dehydrogenative coupling reaction
A calix[4]arene-derived AIE macrocycle (named T1) acted as an energy donor in artificial light-harvesting systems (LHSs). The T1-based LHS enabled photocatalytic cross-dehydrogenative coupling reactions.
Multichannel afterglow regulated by protonation-induced reversed intersystem crossing
The precise regulation of ΔEST and kRISCvia protonation/deprotonation enables dynamic switching between TADF and RTP afterglow.
Interpretable prediction of aggregation-induced emission molecules based on graph neural networks
Based on interpretable graph neural networks, we have established a new efficient workflow for developing AIE materials.
High-contrast tricolored mechanofluorochromism of a novel gold(I)-based AIEgen achieved through the phosphino-type auxiliary ligand modulation strategy
A gold(I) complex with a phosphino-type ligand can simultaneously show AIE and high-contrast tricolored mechanofluorochromism for the first time, and its application in inkless writing information storage is developed.
About this collection
Aggregation-induced emission , a concept coined by Professor Ben Zhong Tang at the beginning of this century, refers to a unique phenomenon that a luminogen is weakly emissive in a dilute solution as a molecular species but luminesces intensely upon aggregate formation. Over the last quarter-century, AIE has attracted much research interest and has developed into an active branch of scientific research. The first paper to use the AIE terminology was published in Chem. Commun., 2001, 1740-1741, which has been cited almost 7,000 times, becoming one of the most cited articles in the journal’s history. 2026 marks the 25th anniversary of the AIE conceptualization. To celebrate the anniversary, we’re delighted to showcase this themed collection on AIE research, Guest Edited by Ben Zhong Tang (Chinese University of Hong Kong, China), Bin Liu (National University of Singapore, Singapore), Kazuo Tanaka (Kyoto University, Japan), Martin Bryce (Durham University, UK) and Anjun Qin (South China University of Technology, China).