Highly Chemiluminescent Magnetic Beads for Label-Free Sensing of 2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene

Until now, despite the great success acquired in scientific research and commercial applications, magnetic beads (MBs) have been used for nothing more than a carrier in most cases in bioassays. In this work, highly chemiluminescent magnetic beads containing <i>N</i>-(4-aminobutyl)-<i>N</i>-ethyl isoluminol (ABEI) and Co²⁺ (Co²⁺/ABEI/MBs) were first synthesized via a facile strategy. ABEI and Co²⁺ were grafted onto the surface of carboxylated MBs by virtue of a carboxyl group and electrostatic interaction. The as-prepared Co²⁺/ABEI/MBs exhibited good paramagnetic properties, satisfactory stability, and intense chemiluminescence (CL) emission when reacted with H₂O₂, which was more than 150 times that of ABEI functionalized MBs. Furthermore, it was found that 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) aptamer could attach to the surface of Co²⁺/ABEI/MBs via electrostatic interaction and coordination interaction between TNT aptamer and Co²⁺, leading to a decrease in CL intensity due to the catalytic site Co²⁺ being blocked by the aptamer. In the presence of TNT, TNT would bind strongly with TNT aptamer and detach from the surface of Co²⁺/ABEI/MBs, resulting in partial restoration of the CL signal. Accordingly, label-free aptasensor was developed for the determination of TNT in the range of 0.05–25 ng/mL with a detection limit of 17 pg/mL. This work demonstrates that Co²⁺/ABEI/MBs are easily connected with recognition biomolecules, which are not only magnetic carriers but also direct sensing interfaces with excellent CL activity. It provides a novel CL interface with a magnetic property which easily separates analytes from the sample matrix to construct label-free bioassays

Systematic Study and Imaging Application of Aggregation-Induced Emission of Ester-Isophorone Derivatives

The dicyanoisophorone derivatives show obvious AIE behaviors in our previous work. To study the bioimaging application of these chromophores with AIE/AIEE properties, the ester groups substituted for one cyan to form a new family based on isophorone (<b>2a</b>–<b>2e</b>). <b>2a</b>–<b>2d</b> exhibit obvious AIE/AIEE phenomena, while <b>2e</b> shows fluorescence quenching in the aggregate state. The morphology and size of aggregates with different water contents were investigated using SEM and DLS, indicating that a large number of smaller globular or quadrate nanoparticles with average diameters in the range 78.79–392.7 nm in mixed solutions are related to these AIE/AIEE or ACQ behaviors. We also made comparative analyses of their optical properties in different states. The crystal data of <b>2a</b>–<b>2d</b> reveal that the multiple intra- and intermolecular interactions leads to the molecular conformation being more stable, increases the planarity of compounds, restricts the intramolecular motions, and promotes the formation of <i>J</i>-type aggregate, enabling chromophores <b>2a</b>–<b>2d</b> to emit intensely in the solid state. In addition, the frontier molecular orbital energy and band gap calculated by density functional theory are quite consistent with the experimental results. Finally, these AIE/AIEE-active compounds could be used in bioimaging applications, which immensely provide a new strategy to the application of some AIE/AIEE systems