Ju Mei,†,‡,∥ Nelson L. C. Leung,†,‡,∥ Ryan T. K. Kwok,†,‡ Jacky W. Y. Lam,†,‡ and Ben Zhong Tang*,†,‡,§ †HKUST-Shenzhen Research Institute, Hi-Tech Park, Nanshan, Shenzhen 518057, China ‡Department of Chemistry, HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study, Institute of Molecular Functional Materials, Division of Biomedical Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, Division of Life Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China Guangdong Innovative Research Team, SCUT-HKUST Joint Research Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China

Aggregation-Induced Emission: Together We Shine, United We Soar!

Aggregation-induced emission: phenomenon, mechanism and applications.

During the past decade, fluorescent chemosensors have become an important research field of supramolecular chemistry and have attracted great attention because of their simplicity, high selectivity and sensitivity in fluorescent assays. In the design of new fluorescent chemosensors, exploration of new sensing mechanisms between recognition and signal reporting units is of continuing interest. Based on different photophysical processes, conventional sensing mechanisms including photo-induced electron transfer (PET), intramolecular charge transfer (ICT), metal–ligand charge transfer (MLCT), twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT), electronic energy transfer (EET), fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), and excimer/exciplex formation have been investigated and reviewed extensively in the literature. This tutorial review will mainly focus on new fluorescent sensing mechanisms that have emerged in the past five years, such as aggregation-induced emission (AIE) and CN isomerization, which can be ascribed to fluorescence changes via conformational restriction. In addition, excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) has not been well reviewed yet, although a number of chemosensors based on the ESIPT mechanism have been reported. Thus, ESIPT-based chemosensors have been also summarized in this review.

New sensing mechanisms for design of fluorescent chemosensors emerging in recent years

Department of Chemistry, William Mong Institute of Nano Science and Technology, Bioengineering Graduate Program, The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology (HKUST), Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China, and Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Synthesis and Functionalization of the Ministry of Education, Institute of Biomedical Macromolecules, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China

Acetylenic polymers: syntheses, structures, and functions.

The development of efficient luminescent materials in the solid state is of both scientific and technological interest. An obstacle to their development is the notorious aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) effect: the emission of conventional luminophores is often weakened in the solid state in comparison to in solution, due to aggregate formation in the condensed phase. [1‐3] The ACQ problem must be properly tackled, because the luminophores are commonly used as solid films in their practical applications. Various chemical, physical, and engineering approaches have been taken to frustrate luminophore aggregation. [4,5] The attachment of bulky alicyclics, encapsulation by amphiphilic surfactants, and blending with transparent polymers are widely used methods to impede aggregate formation. These processes, however, are often accompanied by severe side effects. The steric effects of bulky alicyclics, for example, can twist the conformations of the chromophoric units and jeopardize the electronic conjugation in the luminophores, and the electronic effects of the saturated surfactants and nonconjugated polymers can dilute the luminophore density and obstruct the charge transport in electroluminescence (EL) devices. The current approaches to the problem are thus far from ideal, because the ACQ effect is alleviated at the expense of other useful properties of the luminophores. A win‐win strategy would be the elimination of the ACQ effect without sacrificing other functional properties of the luminophores. In the work reported here, we have developed such a new approach. Triphenylamine (TPA) and its derivatives are luminescent when dissolved in good solvents [6] for them but become less emissive when aggregated in the solid state, and are therefore typical ACQ luminophores. [7] For

Changing the behavior of chromophores from aggregation-caused quenching to aggregation-induced emission: development of highly efficient light emitters in the solid state.

https://www.rsc.org/suppdata/CC/b6/b608425g/b608425g.pdf

Zhihong Guo

Papers

Fluorescent "light-up" bioprobes based on tetraphenylethylene derivatives with aggregation-induced emission characteristics