Aggregation‐Induced Emission for Visualization in Materials Science

Abstract

Fluorescent imaging techniques have attracted much attention as a powerful tool to realize the visualization of structural and morphological evolution of various materials. However, the traditional fluorescent dyes usually suffered from aggregation‐caused quenching, which severely limits the visualization results. In contrast, aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) molecules with high quantum yields in the condensed state showed great opportunities for imaging techniques. In this feature article, recent progresses in visualization with AIE molecules are discussed. Assembly processes including crystallization, gelation process, and dissipative assembly have been observed. To better study information obtained regarding the processes, visualization during reactions, phase transitions, and molecular motions are successfully presented. Based on these successes, AIE molecules were further applied for phase recognition, macro‐dispersion evaluation, and damage detection. Finally, we also present the outlook and perspectives, in our opinion, for the development of visualization by AIE molecules.

Structural and process controls of AIEgens for NIR-II theranostics

“…Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) is an inventive uorescent technique and has the potential to address this issue. 4,[33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51] AIE illustrates a unique photophysical phenomenon where molecules are non-emissive in the discrete state because of active intramolecular motions, but emit energetically when aggregated due to the restriction of intramolecular motions (RIM). To drive emission to the NIR-II window, AIE luminogens (AIEgens) are designed as conjugated donor-acceptor (D-A) structures, where they are being twisted with each other (dihedral angle of q, Fig.…”

Sparks fly when AIE meets with polymers

“…A systematic review on AIE technology has not been conducted although it has been widely explored as a detection tool in polymer science. [43][44][45] In this work, we summarize the recent progress on the applications of AIEgen in the polymer field by our group since 2016. Firstly, we introduce the applications of AIEgens in bio or bio-based polymers, involving the topics of protein conformations, protein fibrillation, enzyme activity, DNA synthesis, DNA sequences, and DNA G-quadruplexes.…”

Aggregation-Induced Emission Properties in Fully π-Conjugated Polymers, Dendrimers, and Oligomers

“…The interest aroused by this fascinating research field has led to the study and description of a many fluorescent chemical structures in the solid or aggregate state, as it is proven by the fact that in the last two years, at least forty reviews have been published related to this topic [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. However, most of the molecular structures are discrete molecules or independent luminescent units within a non-conjugated skeleton.…”