Issue 94, 2020

Optimising molecular rotors to AIE fluorophores for mitochondria uptake and retention

Abstract

Molecular rotors exhibit fluorescence enhancement in a confined environment and thus have been used extensively in biological imaging. However, many molecular rotors suffer from small Stokes shift and self-aggregation caused quenching. In this work, we have synthesised a series of red emissive molecular rotors based on cationic α-cyanostilbene. Profoundly enhanced aggregation-induced emission (AIE) properties and greatly widened Stokes shifts can be achieved by molecular engineering. With specificity to stain mitochondria, we demonstrate a simple approach to achieve cell uptake and retention upon tuning the pyridinium substituent of the dyes.

Graphical abstract: Optimising molecular rotors to AIE fluorophores for mitochondria uptake and retention

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
24 Sep 2020
Accepted
04 Nov 2020
First published
04 Nov 2020

Chem. Commun., 2020,56, 14853-14856

Optimising molecular rotors to AIE fluorophores for mitochondria uptake and retention

T. C. OwYong, S. Ding, N. Wu, T. Fellowes, S. Chen, J. M. White, W. W. H. Wong and Y. Hong, Chem. Commun., 2020, 56, 14853 DOI: 10.1039/D0CC06411D

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