THESIS
2016
xlii, 233 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 30 cm
Abstract
Fluorescent materials have shown great capability in biomedical research. They
could be applied as probes for sensing and quantifying biomolecules and imaging
agents for real-time visualization of bio-structures or biological processes. However,
most of the traditional organic fluorophores suffer from the self-quenching problem at
high concentration or in aggregated state. Such aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ)
effect has greatly limited the scope of their biomedical applications.
In 2001, our group developed a non-classical system, in which luminogen aggregation promotes rather than suppresses the light emission. We have termed this unconventional phenomenon as "aggregation-induced emission" (AIE) and identified the restriction of intramolecular motion as the main cause of the A...[
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Fluorescent materials have shown great capability in biomedical research. They
could be applied as probes for sensing and quantifying biomolecules and imaging
agents for real-time visualization of bio-structures or biological processes. However,
most of the traditional organic fluorophores suffer from the self-quenching problem at
high concentration or in aggregated state. Such aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ)
effect has greatly limited the scope of their biomedical applications.
In 2001, our group developed a non-classical system, in which luminogen aggregation promotes rather than suppresses the light emission. We have termed this unconventional phenomenon as "aggregation-induced emission" (AIE) and identified the restriction of intramolecular motion as the main cause of the AIE effect. Inspired by the intriguing phenomenon and its unique properties, we have opened up a brand-new
platform for advanced AIE materials to explore biomedical applications.
In this thesis, a series of AIE luminogens (AIEgens) have been designed and
synthesized for enzyme activity assay (e.g., alkaline phosphatase and acetylcholine
esterase) and small molecule detection (e.g., hydrogen peroxide, glucose and
peroxynitrite). By virtue of these analyte-responsive systems, tetraphenylethene
derivatives are further employed for visualizing important biological events (e.g., inflammation) in vivo and evaluating treatment efficacy after drug therapy.
Besides, novel AIEgens are also designed for organelle-specific imaging and unique
applications in biomedical area. A series of imidazole derivatives with AIE
characteristics are synthesized readily, which shows mitochondria-targeting ability and
antifungal activity. Peptide-modified AIEgens are used as imaging agents of specific
cancer cells as well as adjuvant for theranostic applications.
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