Natural Products Research Center, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China.
CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, CAS Key Lab for Biological Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, National Center for NanoScience and Technology, ZhongGuanCun BeiYiTiao, Beijing, 100190, China.
Nanoscale. 2017 Apr 6;9(14):4770-4776. doi: 10.1039/c7nr00342k.
Multi-photon excitation and versatile fluorescent probes are in high need for biological imaging, since one probe can satisfy many needs as a biosensor. Herein we synthesize a series of two-photon excited probes based on tetraphenylethene (TPE) structures (TPE-Acr, TPE-Py, and TPE-Quino), which can image both mammalian cells and bacteria based on aggregation-induced emission (AIE) without washing them. Because of cationic moieties, the fluorescent molecules can aggregate into nanoscale fluorescent organic nanoscale dots to image mitochondria and bacteria with tunable emissions using both one-photon and two-photon excitation. Our research demonstrates that these AIE-dots expand the functions of luminescent organic dots to construct efficient fluorescent sensors applicable to both one-photon and two-photon excitation for bio-imaging of bacteria and mammalian cells.
多光子激发和多功能荧光探针在生物成像中需求量很大，因为一个探针可以作为生物传感器满足多种需求。本文合成了一系列基于四苯乙烯（TPE）结构的双光子激发探针（TPE-Acr、TPE-Py 和 TPE-Quino），它们可以在不进行洗涤的情况下基于聚集诱导发射（AIE）对哺乳动物细胞和细菌进行成像。由于带有正电荷的部分，荧光分子可以聚集形成纳米级的荧光有机纳米点，使用单光子和双光子激发来调节发射，从而对线粒体和细菌进行成像。我们的研究表明，这些 AIE 点扩展了发光有机点的功能，构建了高效的荧光传感器，适用于单光子和双光子激发，可用于细菌和哺乳动物细胞的生物成像。
