Ni Xie

Benzothiazolium-functionalized tetraphenylethene: an AIE luminogen with tunable solid-state emission.

Melding a benzothiazolium unit with tetraphenylethene generates a new hemicyanine luminogen with aggregation-induced emission characteristics; the luminogen exhibits crystochromism and its solid-state emission can be repeatedly tuned from yellow or orange to red by grinding-fuming or grinding-heating processes due to the transformation from the crystalline to the amorphous state and vice versa.

Aggregation-Induced Emission in a Hyperbranched Poly(silylenevinylene) and Superamplification in Its Emission Quenching by Explosives.

A silicon-containing hyperbranched polymer (hb-P1/2) with σ*-π* conjugation was prepared in a good yield and high molecular weight by rhodium-catalyzed alkyne polyhydrosilylation of 1,2-bis(4-ethynylphenyl)-1,2-diphenylethene (1) with tris(4-dimethylsilylphenyl)amine (2). The polymer was thermally stable, losing merely 5% of its weight when heated to ≈445 °C. Whereas hb-P1/2 was weakly luminescent when molecularly dissolved, it became highly emissive when supramolecularly aggregated, showing an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) phenomenon. A superamplification effect was observed when the AIE nanoaggregates were used as fluorescent chemosensor for explosive detection: the quenching efficiency was greatly increased in a nonlinear fashion with increasing quencher concentration.

Construction of efficient blue AIE emitters with triphenylamine and TPE moieties for non-doped OLEDs

In this paper, by merging the hole-dominated triphenylamine (TPA) and tetraphenylethene (TPE) moieties together with different linkage positions, four derivatives of 1,2-bis[4′-(diphenylamino)biphenyl-4-yl]-1,2-diphenylethene (2TPATPE) were successfully synthesized with confirmed structures, and their thermal, optical and electronic properties were fully investigated. Thanks to the introduction of the meta-linkage mode on the TPE core, their π-conjugation length could be effectively restricted to ensure blue emission. The non-doped OLEDs based on these four emitters exhibit blue emissions from 443–466 nm, largely blue-shifted with respect to the green emission of 2TPATPE (514 nm). Meanwhile, good electroluminescence efficiencies with Lmax, ηC,max, and ηP,max of up to 8160 cd m−2, 3.79 cd A−1, and 2.94 Im W−1 respectively, have also been obtained, further validating our rational design of blue AIE fluorophores.

Defect-sensitive crystals based on diaminomaleonitrile-functionalized Schiff base with aggregation-enhanced emission

In this work, we report the synthesis and photophysical studies of a new luminogen, A3MN, a diaminomaleonitrile-functionalized Schiff base. A3MN is aggregation-enhanced emission (AEE)-active: the emission of A3MN is enhanced with the aggregate formation. A3MN also possesses twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) properties, showing noticeable solvatofluorochromism. Interestingly, the crystals of A3MN are nonemissive; the defect areas of the crystal, however, are highly emissive, as confirmed by spectroscopic methods and confocal microscopy. By taking advantage of this defect sensitive feature, a “turn-on” type of mechanofluorochromic material is developed, the emission of which is significantly enhanced under pressure or shear force. The detection limit reaches 0.1 Newton owing to its “turn-on” nature. Such defect-induced emission also renders A3MN sensitive to various kinds of mechanical actions, including hitting, friction, sculpture, and ultrasonic vibration.

Conjugated Hyperbranched Poly(aryleneethynylene)s: Synthesis, Photophysical Properties, Superquenching by Explosive, Photopatternability, and Tunable High Refractive Indices

Triphenylamine (TPA)-based conjugated hyperbranched poly(aryleneethynylene)s (PAEs), hb-P1/2, hb-P1/3, and hb-P1/4, were synthesized with high molecular weights and good solubilities through Sonogashira coupling reactions. These PAEs exhibited outstanding thermal stabilities and different emission behaviors. Tetraphenylethene (TPE)-containing hb-P1/2 fluoresced faintly in THF, although its light emission was enhanced by aggregate formation in aqueous media or in thin films, thereby exhibiting an aggregation-induced emission-enhancement (AIEE) effect. Whereas 1,1,2,3,4,5-hexaphenylsilole (HPS)-bearing hb-P1/3 showed no significant change in emission intensity with increasing water content in aqueous media, hb-P1/4, which consisted of TPA-fluorenone donor-acceptor groups, presented almost identical absorptions, but both positive and negative solvatochromic emissions in various solvents. A superquenching effect was observed in the picric-acid-detection process by using nanosuspensions of hb-P1/2. All of the polymers possessed good film formability. UV irradiation of the thin films induced simultaneous photobleaching and cross-linking, thus making them applicable in the fabrication of 2D and 3D patterns. Furthermore, the polymer films also showed high refractive indices, which were tunable upon exposure to UV light.

Aggregation-Induced Emission Luminogen-Based Direct Visualization of Concentration Gradient Inside an Evaporating Binary Sessile Droplet

In this study, the concentration gradient inside evaporating binary sessile droplets of 30, 50, and 60 vol % tetrahydrofuran (THF)/water mixtures was investigated. The 5 μL THF/water droplets were evaporated on a transparent hydrophobic substrate. This is the first demonstration of local concentration mapping within an evaporating binary droplet utilizing the aggregation-induced emission material. During the first two evaporation stages of the binary droplet, the local concentration can be directly visualized by the change of fluorescence emission intensity. Time-resolved average and local concentrations can be estimated by using the pre-established function of fluorescence intensity versus water volume fraction.

A general powder dusting method for latent fingerprint development based on AIEgens

Powder dusting method is the most practically useful approach for latent fingerprint development in the crime scene. Herein, a general powder dusting method has been explored for latent fingerprint development based on aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens). A series of tetraphenylethene (TPE) derivatives with multiple diphenylamine (DPA), namely, TPE-DPA, TPE-2DPA and TPE-4DPA, were selected as candidates to dope with magnetic powders and applied for latent fingerprint development. After screening, the magnetic powder 3 doped with TPE-4DPA proves to be the best, in terms of fluorescent intensity, resolution and adhesiveness. Afterwards, the magnetic powder 3 was applied for visualization of latent fingerprint on various smooth and porous substrates, including glass, stainless steel, leaf, ceram, plastic bag, lime wall, wood and paper money. Specific details, such as island, core, termination and bifurcation, can be clearly observed for the fluorescent fingerprint images.

Multiplexed imaging detection of live cell intracellular changes in early apoptosis with aggregation-induced emission fluorogens

Apoptosis is an important process for maintaining tissue homeostasis and eliminating abnormal cells in multicellular organisms. Abnormality in apoptosis often leads to severe diseases such as cancers. Better understanding of its mechanisms and processes is therefore important. Accompanying molecular biology events of apoptosis is a series of cellular morphology changes: nucleus condensation, cell shrinkage and rounding, cell surface blebbing, dynamic blebbing, apoptotic membrane protrusions and nucleus fragmentations and finally, the formation and release of apoptotic bodies. It is difficult to detect cellular changes in the early phase of apoptosis due to the subtle changes at this phase. In the current study, we induced apoptosis in HeLa cells with H2O2 and used nuclear dye Hoechst 33258, mitochondria, lysosome and cytoplasmic protein specific aggregation-induced emission fluorogens (AIEgens), TPE-Ph-In, 2M-DABS and BSPOTPE to successfully perform live cell multiplexed imaging to investigate early apoptosis cellular events. We showed the gradual dissipation of mitochondria membrane potential until it is nondetectable by TPE-Ph-In. Increased mitophagy detected by TPE-Ph-In and 2M-DABS, condensed nucleus detected by Hoechst 33258, increased permeability and/or reduced integrity of nuclear membrane, and increased intracellular vesicles detected by 2M-DABS are some of the early events of apoptosis.