Huang Baojian, Wang Kang, Zhang Jinchuan, Yan Hewei, Zhao Hui, Han Lei, Han Ting, Tang Ben Zhong
College of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao 266109, China.
Center for AIE Research, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Polymer Science and Technology, Guangdong Research Center for Interfacial Engineering of Functional Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2024 Feb 13. doi: 10.1021/acsami.3c16257.
Fluorescent polyelectrolytes have attracted tremendous attention due to their unique properties and wide applications. However, current research objects of fluorescent polyelectrolytes mainly focus on side-chain charged polyelectrolytes, and the applications of polyelectrolytes in plant cytomembrane imaging with long time and high specificity still remain challenging. Herein, long-time and targeted fluorescence imaging of plant cytomembranes was achieved for the first time using main-chain charged polyelectrolytes (MCCPs) with aggregation-induced emission (AIE). A series of MCCPs were designed and synthesized, among which the red-emissive and AIE-active MCCP with a triphenylamine linker and a cyano group around the cationic ring-fused heterocyclic core showed the best fluorescence imaging performance of plant cells. Unlike other MCCPs and its neutral form of polymer, this cyano-substituted conjugated polyelectrolyte can specifically target the cytomembrane of plant cells within a short staining time with many advantages, including wash-free staining, high photostability and imaging integrity, excellent durability (at least 12 h), and low biotoxicity. In addition to onion epidermal cells, this AIE fluorescence probe also shows good imaging capabilities for other kinds of plant cells such as and . Such an AIE-active MCCP-based imaging system provides an effective design strategy to develop fluorescence probes with high specificity and long-term imaging ability toward plant plasma membranes.
荧光聚电解质因其独特的性质和广泛的应用而备受关注。然而，目前荧光聚电解质的研究对象主要集中在侧链带电聚电解质上，聚电解质在植物细胞膜长时间、高特异性成像中的应用仍然具有挑战性。在此，首次利用具有聚集诱导发光（AIE）特性的主链带电聚电解质（MCCP）实现了植物细胞膜的长时间靶向荧光成像。设计并合成了一系列MCCP，其中具有三苯胺连接基且在阳离子稠合杂环核心周围带有氰基的红色发射且具有AIE活性的MCCP对植物细胞表现出最佳的荧光成像性能。与其他MCCP及其聚合物的中性形式不同，这种氰基取代的共轭聚电解质能够在短染色时间内特异性靶向植物细胞的细胞膜，具有许多优点，包括无需冲洗染色、高光稳定性和成像完整性、出色的耐久性（至少12小时）以及低生物毒性。除了洋葱表皮细胞外，这种AIE荧光探针对其他种类的植物细胞如 和 也表现出良好的成像能力。这种基于AIE活性MCCP的成像系统为开发对植物质膜具有高特异性和长期成像能力的荧光探针提供了一种有效的设计策略。
