Review
Chemistry, Inorganic & Nuclear
Guang Hong Luo, Tian Zhao Xu, Xing Li, Wei Jiang, Yan Hong Duo, Ben Zhong Tang
Summary: AIEgens have shown great potential in tumor diagnosis and therapy through specific targeting of organelles.
COORDINATION CHEMISTRY REVIEWS
(2022)
Review
Chemistry, Inorganic & Nuclear
Juan Ouyang, Lihe Sun, Fang Zeng, Shuizhu Wu
Summary: Fluorophores with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) have many advantageous features for biomedical applications, especially for early diagnosis of diseases. Probes play a crucial role in fluorescent and optoacoustic imaging, and biomarker-activatable probes based on smart AIEgens have been widely researched and applied in this field.
COORDINATION CHEMISTRY REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Leina Dou, Qing Li, Yuchen Bai, Jiaqian Kou, Xiaonan Wang, Qian Zhao, Xuezhi Yu, Kai Wen, Zhanhui Wang, Jianzhong Shen, Wenbo Yu
Summary: Aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIE-gens) have great potential for bacterial imaging and detection without complicated labeling or washing steps. In this study, we investigated the mechanism of their bacterial Light-Up behavior using large-scale molecular dynamics simulations. We proposed that the triphenylamine motif of TBP-1 plays a crucial role in the fluorescence turn-on and bacterial Light-Up. Based on this, we developed a heterogeneous lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) for foodborne pathogen detection with improved sensitivity and specificity.
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Shan-Shan Wang, Shao-Ying Du, Xu He, Yu-Ming Qi, Xiao-Li Li, Rui-Xue Rong, Zhi-Ran Cao, Ke-Rang Wang
Summary: This study designed and synthesized a series of modified naphthalimide derivatives, and found that different modifications had varying effects on cytotoxicity. The nucleus-targeting effects were shown to have a significant impact on cytotoxicity, DNA binding interactions, and cell cycle progression.
BIOORGANIC CHEMISTRY
(2021)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Na-Eun Choi, Ji-Yu Lee, Eun-Chae Park, Ju-Hee Lee, Jiyoun Lee
Summary: This review summarizes the recent reports on organelle-targeted fluorescent probes, evaluating their strategies and structural features based on their target organelles. The article discusses the advantages of the currently used probes, the potential challenges in their application, and future directions for development.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Jianyu Zhang, Lianrui Hu, Kaihua Zhang, Junkai Liu, Xingguang Li, Haoran Wang, Zhaoyu Wang, Herman H. Y. Sung, Ian D. Williams, Zebing Zeng, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Haoke Zhang, Ben Zhong Tang
Summary: Experimental and theoretical studies show that introducing electron-donating groups into triphenylmethane (TPM) can enhance the efficiency of clusteroluminescence, while introducing electron-withdrawing groups may result in quenched clusteroluminescence.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2021)
Review
Chemistry, Inorganic & Nuclear
Jun Li, Yi Zhang, Pengzhan Wang, Le Yu, Jusung An, Ganzhen Deng, Yao Sun, Jong Seung Kim
Summary: ROS, thiols, and enzymes are important biomarkers in physiological processes. Developing fluorescence detection methods for these biomarkers is significant for early disease diagnosis and therapy. Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) based fluorescent emitters have excellent photostability and have attracted attention in biomedical research.
COORDINATION CHEMISTRY REVIEWS
(2021)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Marine H. Laporte, Nikolai Klena, Virginie Hamel, Paul Guichard
Summary: Cryo-ExM is a method that combines cryofixation with expansion microscopy to preserve native cellular organization. This approach bypasses artifacts associated with chemical fixation and its simplicity will contribute to its widespread use in super-resolution microscopy.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Laura Fourmois, Florent Poyer, Aude Sourdon, Delphine Naud-Martin, Sounderya Nagarajan, Rahima Chennoufi, Eric Deprez, Marie-Paule Teulade-Fichou, Florence Mahuteau-Betzer
Summary: Mitochondria-targeted fluorophores have been designed to monitor the mitochondrial status, with cationic derivatives shown to accumulate in mitochondria and translocate to the nucleus under depolarisation of the mitochondrial membrane. This reversible phenomenon suggests that these probes can be used to monitor Delta psi(m) variations.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Jingsong Peng, Qunfeng Cheng
Summary: Graphene is a popular 2D nanocomposite with high tensile strength and electrical conductivity, but its properties may degrade due to weak interfacial interactions caused by nanosheet aggregation. Inspired by natural nanocomposites like nacre, strategies to assemble graphene nanosheets into high-performance structures have been proposed. Nacre-like and inverse nacre-like structures have been successfully fabricated, showing excellent mechanical properties and potential application in various fields.
ACTA PHYSICO-CHIMICA SINICA
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Krupal P. Jethava, Priya Prakash, Palak Manchanda, Harshit Arora, Gaurav Chopra
Summary: Targeting live cell organelles is crucial for imaging, understanding, and controlling specific biochemical processes. In this study, a modular one-step synthetic strategy was developed to create new fluorescent probes targeting lysosomal, mitochondrial, and nucleus in live cells. The differentiation in cellular localization and pH activation abilities of the probes were achieved by specific functional group changes in the central scaffold.
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yan-Yan Chen, Xiao-Mei Jiang, Guan-Fei Gong, Hong Yao, You-Ming Zhang, Tai-Bao Wei, Qi Lin
Summary: The aggregation-induced emission (AIE) phenomenon proposed by Tang in 2001 has shown great application potential in various science fields. Pillararenes, as a new class of macrocyclic hosts, have excellent performance in supramolecular chemistry and promising prospects in the AIE area.
CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Lu Zhang, Hai-Mei Li, Ji-Lei Chen, Wen-Yan She, Yi Zhao, Yang Liu, Feng-Lei Jiang, Yi Liu, Peng Jiang
Summary: Two organic molecules based on merocyanine have been synthesized in this study, which can self-assemble to form nanoparticles in water. These molecules have potential applications in areas such as fluorescent anticounterfeit printing ink, pH detection, and near-infrared imaging. They exhibit excellent antiphotobleaching ability, mitochondrial targeting ability, and in vivo and in vitro near-infrared imaging capabilities, showing superior chemotherapy capabilities and biocompatibility in a tumor-bearing mouse model.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yinghao Xia, Jili Li, Linlin Wang, Xiyuan Luo, Yuqi Xie, Yanlan Liu
Summary: Specific intervention of senescent cells is a powerful approach to combat aging and age-related diseases. However, the effectiveness of canonical methods targeting SnC-associated signaling pathways is limited by their dynamic changes and heterogeneity. This study presents a molecular prodrug that targets lysosome dysfunction, a common feature in senescent cells. The prodrug shows high specificity and broad-spectrum killing of senescent cells, offering a promising approach for the treatment of various diseases.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2022)
Review
Chemistry, Inorganic & Nuclear
Xiaopeng Yang, Di Zhang, Yong Ye, Yufen Zhao
Summary: Viscosity plays a crucial role in biological systems and its abnormality is closely related to the development of diseases in cellular microenvironment. Fluorescence imaging, with its excellent sensitivity, non-invasive detection, high selectivity and real-time imaging, has become a powerful tool for monitoring local microviscosity and analytes changes in living cells. This review focuses on the design strategies, spectral performance, and biological applications of multifunctional probes for simultaneous detection of viscosity and analytes, and proposes new ideas to overcome the limitations of existing probes.
COORDINATION CHEMISTRY REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Bin Li, Wei Wang, Lu Zhao, Dingyuan Yan, Xiaoxue Li, Qiuxia Gao, Judun Zheng, Sitong Zhou, Shanshan Lai, Yi Feng, Jie Zhang, Hang Jiang, Chengmin Long, Wenjun Gan, Xiaodong Chen, Dong Wang, Ben Zhong Tang, Yuhui Liao
Summary: The inappropriate use of antibiotics has caused the rise of drug-resistant bacteria, posing a significant threat to global health. Researchers have developed a self-assembled aggregation-induced emission (AIE) nanosphere with near-infrared region II (NIR-II) fluorescence, photothermal, and photodynamic properties for the theranostics of drug-resistant bacterial infections. The nanosphere, encapsulated with teicoplanin and ammonium bicarbonate, forms a laser-activated nanobomb that enables multimodal imaging and synergistic therapeutic effects on multidrug-resistant bacteria strains.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Haitao Hu, Dan Li, Wenbin Dai, Qiao Jin, Dong Wang, Jian Ji, Ben Zhong Tang, Zhe Tang
Summary: Compared to conventional PTT, mild-temperature PTT is a more promising antitumor strategy with lower phototoxicity. However, the thermoresistance of cancer cells limits its efficacy. In this study, a supramolecular nanocarrier is developed to co-deliver NO and DCTBT for mild-temperature PTT. The generated ONOO- can enhance the therapeutic efficacy by reducing the thermoresistance of cancer cells. The antitumor performance of this strategy is validated on HCC models.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Jie Cui, Fei Zhang, Dingyuan Yan, Ting Han, Lei Wang, Dong Wang, Ben Zhong Tang
Summary: This study successfully developed a versatile molecule DHTDP with aggregation-induced emission, which can simultaneously exhibit second near-infrared (NIR-II) fluorescence emission and efficient photothermal conversion. By camouflaging DHTDP nanoparticles with cancer cell membrane, the resultant biomimetic nanoparticles not only have facilitated delivery efficiency and homologous targeting capability, but also provide precise imaging guidance through NIR-II fluorescence imaging, photoacoustic imaging, and photothermal imaging. This study presents a new approach to explore superior phototheranostics for practical cancer theranostics using biomimetic multimodal phototheranostics loaded by homogeneity-targeting cell membrane.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Shixian Cao, Xiaoyuan Tian, Mingyue Cao, Jianguo Wang, Guangle Niu, Ben Zhong Tang
Summary: A series of donor-acceptor-acceptor structured fluorescent acrylonitriles featuring aggregation-induced emission (AIE) were developed for low depletion power STED super-resolution imaging. These materials exhibited tunable near-infrared emissions, high fluorescence quantum yields, significant Stokes shifts, and large two-photon absorption cross-sections. They also showed solvatochromic effect and ultrahigh fluorescence quantum yields in low-polarity solvents.
CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Bo Song, Jianyu Zhang, Jiadong Zhou, Anjun Qin, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Ben Zhong Tang
Summary: This study develops a method to synthesize clusteroluminogens using water and manipulation of through-space interaction. It also demonstrates the in situ generation of high photoluminescence quantum yield polymeric films through water-involved interfacial polymerization. The synthesized polymeric film shows a vapor-triggered reversible mechanical response, making it a potential smart actuator.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jianyu Zhang, Yujie Tu, Hanchen Shen, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Jianwei Sun, Haoke Zhang, Ben Zhong Tang
Summary: This study systematically illustrates the impacts of proximity effect and aggregation-induced emission (AIE) on luminescent behaviors of heterocyclic luminogens. The authors report a series of methylquinoxaline derivatives and reveal the energy level changes and coupling effects of the closely related (n,& pi;*) and (& pi;,& pi;*) states, which intrinsically regulate proximity effect and AIE behaviors. The results provide insights into the development of functional and responsive luminogens with AIE properties.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Wentao Wang, Yumeng Gao, Wang Xu, Yan Xu, Ninglin Zhou, Yuanyuan Li, Ming Zhang, Ben Zhong Tang
Summary: This study presents a new approach for treating chronic wounds caused by bacterial infections. By using nanoparticles, this method can simultaneously scavenge inflammation, alleviate hypoxia conditions, and promote the penetration of therapeutic agents in wound tissues. Experimental results showed that this approach inhibits bacterial activities and its effectiveness was demonstrated in animal experiments.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Jing Zhang, Wenjing Liu, Yangjing Liu, Jianyu Zhang, Pengfei Gao, Lei Zheng, Feng Xu, Guorui Jin, Ben Zhong Tang
Summary: A simple yet efficient design strategy is discovered to enhance the absorptivity of AIEgens by introducing gold(I) unit. The integration of gold(I) confers the AIE ligand with much higher photothermal conversion efficiency, more superior NIR-II luminescence, and high-efficiency cancer therapeutic ability. The fabricated tumor-targeting nanoparticles achieve specific NIR-II tumorous imaging and high-efficiency cancer therapy via the synergistic chemotherapy and photothermal therapy.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Xiaoning Li, Liangjing Tu, Mingxue Gao, Aisen Li, Yi Chen, Weijie Chi, Dongdong Zhang, Lian Duan, Yujun Xie, Ben Zhong Tang, Zhen Li
Summary: Exploring blue organic light emitting diodes (OLED) is a challenging yet important task. By fusing cyclohexane with quinoxaline, the electron-withdrawing ability and conjugation degree of the acceptor can be weakened, resulting in blue-shifted emission. Three blue to cyan fluorescent emitters (Me-DPA-TTPZ, tBu-DPA-TTPZ, and TPA-TTPZ) were designed and synthesized, exhibiting high photoluminescence quantum yields and thermal stability. OLEDs with TPA-TTPZ emitters demonstrated deep-blue (449 nm) and blue (468 nm) emission, validating their potential as blue emitters in OLEDs.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Yi Qin, Xue Li, Shuai Lu, Miaomiao Kang, Zhijun Zhang, Yixiong Gui, Xiaopeng Li, Dong Wang, Ben Zhong Tang
Summary: We developed a general and straightforward protocol to formulate supramolecular cages with an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) tendency using donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) adducts as building blocks. A series of box-shaped cages MA-MG with adjustable fluorescence from red to the second near-infrared (NIR-II) region were successfully prepared. In particular, the emission maximum of MG was located at 981 nm, behaving like the rare NIR-II emissive supramolecular cages thus far, and the cage-loaded nanoparticles MGNPs featured a high absolute quantum yield in the NIR-II region, enabling them to perform well in blood vessel imaging.
ACS MATERIALS LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xuelu He, Yuan Luo, Yanying Li, Yuanbo Pan, Ryan T. K. Kwok, Lulu He, Xiaolin Duan, Pengfei Zhang, Aiguo Wu, Ben Zhong Tang, Juan Li
Summary: In this study, a multifunctional near-infrared (NIR)-driven theranostic agent was developed by combining aggregation-induced emission (AIE) photosensitizers TIND with rare-earth doping nanoparticles (RENPs) NaGdF4:Nd/Yb/Tm for up/down conversion luminescence. This theranostic agent was further modified with D-type neuropeptide (NPY)-N-D for blood-brain barrier crossing and glioma targeting. Under 808-nm light irradiation, the down-conversion NIR-II luminescence enabled the localization of glioma, while the upconversion NIR-I luminescence activated the AIE photosensitizers to inhibit orthotopic glioma tumor growth in situ. These findings suggest that the integration of D-type neuropeptide, AIE photosensitizers, and RENPs could be a promising approach for in vivo NIR-II fluorescence image-guided through-skull photodynamic therapy of brain tumors.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Chengcheng Zhou, Zeyu Ding, Weijiang Guan, Ben Zhong Tang
Summary: By tuning the hydrophilicity and stability of monomers and aggregates through tailoring the linkers between two quaternary ammonium end groups and tetraphenylethylene skeleton, three bola-type cationic amphiphiles with aggregation-induced emission property were developed to selectively monitor the interaction with bacteria using sensitive fluorescence switching. The results showed that the aggregates with cationic charges first attach to bacterial surface, and then the monomers dissociate from aggregates to penetrate bacterial membrane. The study revealed the vital role of aggregate stability during antimicrobial process, providing insights into the rational design of highly efficient antimicrobials.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Dingyuan Yan, Yue Huang, Jianyu Zhang, Qian Wu, Guangjie Song, Jian Ji, Qiao Jin, Dong Wang, Ben Zhong Tang
Summary: This research presents the design of butterfly-shaped aggregation-induced emission luminogens for imaging-assisted photothermal obliteration of bacterial biofilms. The newly developed nanoparticles show excellent antibacterial efficiency and are effective in treating different models of bacterial infections.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yupeng Shi, Yaning Xia, Mengyang Zhou, Qiuna Shi, Li Meng, Chuen Kam, Hui Gao, Jingliang Cheng, Ben Zhong Tang, Sijie Chen, Engui Zhao
Summary: This study presents a facile assembly strategy for the fabrication of starch-based luminescent nanoaggregates using starch as the host material and aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) as guest molecules. Highly luminescent nanoparticles with small sizes, high water dispersibility, and low cytotoxicity can be prepared on a large scale through simple procedures under mild conditions. The resulting nano-assemblies demonstrate significantly enhanced fluorescence intensities, reduced susceptibility to photobleaching, and low cytotoxicity.
MATERIALS HORIZONS
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Weidong Yin, Yucheng Ma, Shuge Chen, Longjiang Xing, Shaomin Ji, Jacky W. Y. Lam, Ryan T. K. Kwok, Yanping Huo, Ben Zhong Tang
Summary: This study focuses on the design and synthesis of organic photosensitizers with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics. By incorporating a benzophenone moiety, the synthesized compounds exhibit efficient reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation under light, making them suitable for photodynamic therapy applications. The researchers also investigated the emission properties of these compounds and achieved emission covering the entire visible region. The cationic nature and excellent ROS generation ability of the benzophenone-containing AIE photosensitizers enable specific imaging of mitochondria and effective killing of cancer cells.
ADVANCED OPTICAL MATERIALS
(2023)
