In situ generation of photoactivatable aggregation-induced emission probes for organelle-specific imaging

Abstract

Photoactivatable fluorescent probes are ideal tools for organelle study with a significant advantage of high spatiotemporal resolution.

Recent Advances in Fluorescent Probes for Lipid Droplets

“…This mechanism concerns the SMCy family and many other lipophilic LD probes. The third distinguished group utilizes two photophysical fluorescence-activating principals, twisted ICT (TICT) and AIE (the probes based on tetraphenylethylene core as an AIE-driving force [ 30 , 31 , 47 , 49 , 53 , 55 ]. The AIEgens are usually weakly emissive in organic solvent solutions, but they are strongly fluorescent in an aggregated state in aqueous media (as nanoparticles or solid film).…”

“…The first example of the photoactivatable AIE probe for LD imaging was recently reported by the same group (BZT 3a Figure 5 ) [ 49 ]. 2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-benzothiazoline (BZT 3a) can be generated in situ from its disulfide precursor.…”

Photo‐Responsive Fluorescent Materials with Aggregation‐Induced Emission Characteristics

“…In addition, Tang and coworkers recently constructed a photoactivation system that could be used for specific imaging of lipid droplets and lysosomes. [126] As shown in Figure 8D, 2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-benzothiazoline (compound 3) was easily obtained in situ through SS bond reduction and cyclization reactions. Furthermore, under both one-photon and near-infrared (NIR) two-photon excitations, 3 could undergo a photooxidative dehydrogenation process to form compound 4 with AIE properties.…”

“…[123][124][125] Nevertheless, most of the reported fluorescent probes for bio-imaging lack high spatiotemporal resolution because of their "always on" state, and this seriously limits their applications. [88,126] Owing to the transition from weak emission or non-emission to strong fluorescence upon light irradiation, photoactivatable fluorophores have solved this problem and have become a class of effective biological imaging tools. [126,127] To date, many different photoactivatable materials based on fluorescent proteins have been developed for imaging.…”

“…[88,126] Owing to the transition from weak emission or non-emission to strong fluorescence upon light irradiation, photoactivatable fluorophores have solved this problem and have become a class of effective biological imaging tools. [126,127] To date, many different photoactivatable materials based on fluorescent proteins have been developed for imaging. [128,129] However, the current research situation is far from ideal, as it still has the drawbacks of tedious synthesis, photobleaching, and low photoactivation efficiency.…”