TY - JOUR
T1 - Fluorogens with aggregation induced emission
T2 - Ideal photoacoustic contrast reagents due to intramolecular rotation
AU - Geng, Junlong
AU - Liao, Lun De
AU - Qin, Wei
AU - Tang, Ben Zhong
AU - Thakor, Nitish
AU - Liu, Bin
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2015 American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/1/1
Y1 - 2015/1/1
N2 - Exogenous contrast agents with high sensitivity are highly desirable for photoacoustic (PA) imaging. In this work, we show that fluorogens with aggregation induced emission (AIE) characteristics are born with strong PA signals. In addition, we find that the PA signal of conventional fluorophores could be significantly enhanced through conjugation with tetraphenylethene (TPE), an iconic AIE fluorogen. Taking 2,3-bis[4-(diphenylamino)phenyl]fumaronitrile (TPAFN) as an example, conjugation between TPAFN and TPE affords 2,3-bis(4-(phenyl(4-(1,2,2-triphenylvinyl)phenyl)amino)phenyl) fumaroni-trile (TPETPAFN), a molecule with significant AIE characteristics, which shows 170% higher PA signals as compared to that of TPAFN. The higher PA signal of TPETPAFN is mainly ascribed to the enhanced molecular rotation, which is beneficial to its thermal expansion upon light absorption. Moreover, the significantly reduced PA signals for TPETPAFN in solvents with high viscosity or as nanoparticles further highlight the contribution of molecular rotation on PA signals.
AB - Exogenous contrast agents with high sensitivity are highly desirable for photoacoustic (PA) imaging. In this work, we show that fluorogens with aggregation induced emission (AIE) characteristics are born with strong PA signals. In addition, we find that the PA signal of conventional fluorophores could be significantly enhanced through conjugation with tetraphenylethene (TPE), an iconic AIE fluorogen. Taking 2,3-bis[4-(diphenylamino)phenyl]fumaronitrile (TPAFN) as an example, conjugation between TPAFN and TPE affords 2,3-bis(4-(phenyl(4-(1,2,2-triphenylvinyl)phenyl)amino)phenyl) fumaroni-trile (TPETPAFN), a molecule with significant AIE characteristics, which shows 170% higher PA signals as compared to that of TPAFN. The higher PA signal of TPETPAFN is mainly ascribed to the enhanced molecular rotation, which is beneficial to its thermal expansion upon light absorption. Moreover, the significantly reduced PA signals for TPETPAFN in solvents with high viscosity or as nanoparticles further highlight the contribution of molecular rotation on PA signals.
KW - Aggregation induced emission
KW - Molecular rotation
KW - Photoacoustic imaging
KW - Quantum yield
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U2 - 10.1166/jnn.2015.10031
DO - 10.1166/jnn.2015.10031
M3 - Article
C2 - 26353745
AN - SCOPUS:84920836877
SN - 1533-4880
VL - 15
SP - 1864
EP - 1868
JO - Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
JF - Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
IS - 2
ER -