A substitution-dependent light-up fluorescence probe for selectively detecting Fe3+ ions and its cell imaging application

Deliberate design of specific and sensitive molecular probes with distinctive physical/chemical properties for analyte sensing is of great significance. Herein, by taking advantage of the position-dependent substituent effects, an aggregation-induced emission featured iron (III) probe from ortho-substituted pyridinyl-functionalized tetraphenylethylene (TPE-o-Py) is synthesized. It displays high sensitivity and selectivity toward iron (III) detection. The recognition arises from the position isomer of ortho-substitution, and the fact that TPE-o-Py has a low acid dissociation constant (pKa) that is close to that of hydrolyzed Fe3+. Importantly, TPE-o-Py as a light-up fluorescence probe could be employed for Fe3+sensing in living cells with a pronounced red-shift in fluorescence emission

Specific two-photon imaging of live cellular and deep-tissue lipid droplets by lipophilic AIEgens at ultra-low concentration

Lipid droplets are highly associated with obesity, diabetes, inflammatory disorders and cancer. A reliable two-photon dye for specific lipid droplets imaging in live cells and live tissues at ultra-low concentration has rarely been reported. In this work, four new aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) based on the naphthalene core were designed and synthesized for specific two-photon lipid droplets staining. The new molecules, namely NAP AIEgens, exhibit large Stokes shift (>110 nm), high solid-state fluorescence quantum yield (up to 30%), good two-photon absorption cross section (45–100 GM at 860 nm), high biocompatibility and good photostability. They could specifically stain lipid droplets at ultra-low concentration (50 nM) in a short time of 15 min. Such ultra-low concentration is the lowest value for lipid droplets staining in live cells reported so far. In vitro and ex vivo two-photon imaging of lipid droplets in live cells and live mice liver tissues were successfully demonstrated. In addition, selective visualization of lipid droplets in live mice liver tissues could be achieved at a depth of about 70 μm. These excellent properties render them as promising candidates for investigating lipid droplets-associated physiological and pathological processes in live biological samples

Regio- and stereoselective polymerization of diynes with inorganic comonomer: a facile strategy to conjugated poly(p-arylene dihalodiene)s with processability and postfunctionalizability

Copyright © 2018 American Chemical Society. Development of new methodologies for synthesizing polymers with novel structures and unique properties is a fundamentally important area in polymer science. Herein, a novel synthetic strategy to conjugated poly(p-arylene dihalodiene)s (PADs) with high regio- and stereoselectivity was developed. In the presence of PdBr 2 and CuBr 2 , the polymerizations of terminal alkynes proceeded smoothly in air without heating to generate PADs in high yields (up to 95.3%) with high molecular weights (M w up to 915 900). Low-cost inorganic CuBr 2 played dual roles as cocatalyst and comonomer. The PADs possessed good solubility and film-formi ng ability. Their thin films exhibited high refractive indices (1.7149-1.7245) and would be fabricated into well-resolved fluorescent photopatterns by photolithography. Thanks to the vinyl bromine functionality, the PADs could undergo efficient postmodification to afford polymers with more sophisticated structures and applications.

SI files for "Regio- and stereoselective polymerization of diynes with inorganic comonomer: A facile strategy to conjugated poly(p-arylene dihalodiene)s with processability and postfunctionalizability"

These are the SI files for "Regio- and stereoselective polymerization of diynes with inorganic comonomer: A facile strategy to conjugated poly(p-arylene dihalodiene)s with processability and postfunctionalizability".Abstract for associated article:Development of new methodologies for synthesizing polymers with novel structures and unique properties is a fundamentally important area in polymer science. Herein, a novel synthetic strategy to conjugated poly(p-arylene dihalodiene)s (PADs) with high regio- and stereoselectivity was developed. In the presence of PdBr 2 and CuBr 2 , the polymerizations of terminal alkynes proceeded smoothly in air without heating to generate PADs in high yields (up to 95.3%) with high molecular weights (M w up to 915 900). Low-cost inorganic CuBr 2 played dual roles as cocatalyst and comonomer. The PADs possessed good solubility and film-formi ng ability. Their thin films exhibited high refractive indices (1.7149-1.7245) and would be fabricated into well-resolved fluorescent photopatterns by photolithography. Thanks to the vinyl bromine functionality, the PADs could undergo efficient postmodification to afford polymers with more sophisticated structures and applications.</div

Pyrene-based aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgen): structure correlated with particle size distribution and mechanochromism

The morphology of pyrene-based AIEgens changes depending on the water fraction. The different size distribution and morphological changes of nano-particle species play a significant role in enhancing the emission intensity in the aggregated state

An air-stable organic radical from a controllable photoinduced domino reaction of a hexa-aryl substituted anthracene

Air-stable organic radicals and radical ions have attracted great attention for their far-reaching application ranging from bioimaging to organic electronics. However, because of the highly reactive nature of organic radicals, the design and synthesis of air-stable organic radicals still remains a challenge. Herein, an air-stable organic radical from a controllable photoinduced domino reaction of a hexa-aryl substituted anthracene is described. The domino reaction involves a photoinduced [4 + 2] cycloaddition reaction, rearrangement, photolysis, and an elimination reaction; 1H/13C NMR spectroscopy, high resolution mass spectrometry, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and EPR spectroscopy were exploited for characterization. Furthermore, a photoinduced domino reaction mechanism is proposed according to the experimental and theoretical studies. In addition, the effects of employing push and pull electronic groups on the controllable photoinduced domino reaction were investigated. This article not only offers a new blue emitter and novel air-stable organic radical compound for potential application in organic semiconductor applications, but also provides a perspective for understanding the fundamentals of the reaction mechanism on going from anthracene to semiquinone in such anthracene systems