Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminogens show abnormal fluorescent behavior; they are non-emissive in solution, but they become strongly emissive after aggregation. Sensing and imaging are the major applications of AIE luminogens. By properly manipulating the aggregation and deaggregation of AIE molecules, various bio-/chemosensors have been developed. Moreover, AIE molecules with targeting groups have been devised for imaging of organelles and cancer cells. In this account, we report our recent work on the application of AIE luminogens for the construction of bio-/chemosensors and imaging.
Keywords: aggregation; biosensors; chemosensors; fluorescent probes; imaging agents.
© 2016 The Chemical Society of Japan & Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.