Two birds one stone: Facile preparation of AIE-active fluorescent polymeric nanoparticles via self-catalyzed photo-mediated polymerization

Aggregation-Induced Emission Polymers via Reversible-Deactivation Radical Polymerization

“…In 2017, Wen, Zhang, Wei and co-workers incorporated AIE functionalities onto silica nanoparticles (SNPs) via the Stöber method to prepare luminescent silica nanoparticles (LSNPs), which was then converted into a macro-initiator where zwitterionic 2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC) monomers were polymerized via surface-initiated ATRP (SI-ATRP) to form SNPs-AIE-pMPC (Figure 8A ). [163] Similar to the work by Ouyang, Zhang, Wei and co-workers in 2020, [150] Xu, Zhang, Wei and co-workers had extended their work from randomly dispersed PTH-P(BzMA-MPC)-20 (40) FPNs to PTH-functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) with surface grafted block copolymer PTH@MSNs-poly(PEGMA-co -IA) from poly(ethylene glycol)methyl acrylate (PEGMA) and itaconic acid (IA) as monomers using light irradiation. [164] Some interesting properties of this polymer includes the ability to conjugate with the anticancer drugcis -diammineplatinum dichloride (CDDP) with pH-responsive behaviors for sophisticated controlled drug delivery systems with high water dispersibility, low cytotoxicity and excellent candidate as a cell imaging agent.…”

“…Ouyang, Zhang, Wei and co-workers in 2020, prepared AIE-active FPNs 10-phenylphenothiazine-poly(benzyl methacrylate-co -2methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine) (PTH-P(BzMA-MPC)-20 (40)) capable of self-assembly into spherical micelles (Figure 7C ). [150] PTH-P(BzMA-MPC)-20 with ratio of PTH-Br/MPC/BzMA as 1/40/20 and PTH-P(BzMA-MPC)-40 with ratio of PTH-Br/MPC/BzMA as 1/40/40 FPNs emit fluorescence intensely with high quantum yield of 34.3% and 41.2% respectively measured against Rhodamine B (1 mg/mL) in ethanol as the standard, good water dispersibility and low CMC values. PTH-P(BzMA-MPC)-20 and PTH-P(BzMA-MPC)-40 FPNs were evaluated for cell viability with L02 cells, with both polymers bearing greater than 90% cell viability even after 24 h incubation at a concentration of 320 μg/mL.…”

Aggregation-induced emission-active micelles: synthesis, characterization, and applications

“…In addition to being a hydrophobic AIE fluorophore, PTH-Br (Fig. 3n) 49 created in this work could also act as a photocatalyst and initiator for photo-mediated ATRP. The amphipathic properties of the copolymers allowed them to self-assemble into AIE-active nanoparticles with excellent fluorescence quantum yields, superior dispersibility in solution, and low CMC.…”

Insights into AIE materials: A focus on biomedical applications of fluorescence

“…The pattern of manifestation is also important for AIEgens to improve their performance. Synthetic AIE materials such as metal nanoparticles ( Munirathnappa et al, 2020 ; Wu et al, 2020 ), nonconventional polymers ( Dong et al, 2020b ; Ma H. et al, 2020b ; Yang et al, 2020b ; Huang et al, 2020c ; Zhang et al, 2020f ; Xue et al, 2020 ), and nanodots ( Dong et al, 2020a ; Crucho et al, 2020 ) are generally free of aromatic building blocks and conjugated structures. These synthetic AIEgens generally display concentration-enhanced emission and aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics.…”