ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Design and synthesis of an AIE-active fluorogen with red emission and its biological application

Lufei Xiao, Hongji Sun, Le Zhou, Di Li, and Hui Wang

Chuzhou Vocational and Technical College, Chuzhou, People’s Republic of China

E-mail: xlf3345@163.com

Abstract: A novel triphenylamine-base derivative L containing pyridine and terpyridine was designed and synthesized. Compound L exhibited distinct aggregation-induced emission (AIE) behavior in water–ethanol and also displayed a threefold increase in the intensity of luminescence at 608 nm. Furthermore, confocal microscopy imaging demonstrated that compound L displays low toxicity and brights red fluorescence in mitochondria in living HepG2 cells. Inherent from the mitochondrial-targeting ability of pyridine moiety and the AIE characteristic of triphenylamine group, compound L could be employed as a fluorescent probe in the near-infrared region for living cell imaging.

Keywords: Aggregation-induced enhanced emission ; Triphenylamine ; Mitochondria ; Pyridine 

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-018-0529-0

Chemical Papers 72 (11) 2813–2819 (2018)