Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, Division of Life Science and State Key Laboratory of Molecular Neuroscience, Institute for Advanced Study and Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
Center for Aggregation-Induced Emission, SCUT-HKUST Joint Research Institute, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, China.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2021 May 25;60(22):12424-12430. doi: 10.1002/anie.202015592. Epub 2021 Apr 28.
Silkworm silk is a promising natural biopolymer for textile and biomedical applications for its remarkable flexibility, excellent biocompatibility and controllable biodegradability. The functionalization of silks makes them more versatile for flexible displays and visible bioscaffolds. However, fluorescent silks are normally fabricated through unstable physical absorption or complicated chemical reactions under harsh conditions. Herein, we developed a simple strategy for preparing fluorescent silks. Five aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) with activated alkynes were synthesized by rational molecular design, and then reacted with silk fibers through facile metal-free click bioconjugation. The resulting conjugates show bright full-color emissions and high stability. A white light-emitting silk was fabricated by simultaneous bioconjugation with red-, green- and blue-emissive AIEgens. The red-emissive AIEgen-functionalized silks were successfully applied for long-term cell tracking and two-photon bioimaging, demonstrating great potential for tissue engineering and bioscaffold monitoring.
蚕丝是一种有前途的天然生物聚合物，具有优异的柔韧性、良好的生物相容性和可控的生物降解性，可应用于纺织和生物医学领域。蚕丝的功能化可使其在柔性显示器和可见生物支架等方面具有更大的通用性。然而，荧光蚕丝通常是通过不稳定的物理吸收或在苛刻条件下进行复杂的化学反应来制备的。在此，我们开发了一种简单的制备荧光蚕丝的策略。通过合理的分子设计合成了 5 个具有活性炔基的聚集诱导发射发光体（AIEgens），然后通过简便的无金属点击生物偶联反应与丝纤维反应。所得的共轭物显示出明亮的全色发射和高稳定性。通过同时与红、绿、蓝发光 AIEgen 进行生物偶联，制备了白色发光蚕丝。红色发光 AIEgen 功能化蚕丝成功应用于长期细胞跟踪和双光子生物成像，为组织工程和生物支架监测提供了巨大的应用潜力。
