2. Academic Validation
  3. Bioorthogonal Turn-On Probe Based on Aggregation-Induced Emission Characteristics for Cancer Cell Imaging and Ablation

Bioorthogonal Turn-On Probe Based on Aggregation-Induced Emission Characteristics for Cancer Cell Imaging and Ablation

  • Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2016 May 23;55(22):6457-61. doi: 10.1002/anie.201601744.
Youyong Yuan 1,  Shidang Xu 1,  Xiamin Cheng 1,  Xiaolei Cai 1,  Bin Liu 2 3
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, Singapore, 117585, Singapore.
  • 2 Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 4, Singapore, 117585, Singapore. cheliub@nus.edu.sg.
  • 3 Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 3 Research Link, Singapore, 117602, Singapore. cheliub@nus.edu.sg.
PMID: 27079297 DOI: 10.1002/anie.201601744
Abstract

Bioorthogonal turn-on probes have been widely utilized in visualizing various biological processes. Most of the currently available bioorthogonal turn-on probes are blue or green emissive fluorophores with azide or tetrazine as functional groups. Herein, we present an alternative strategy of designing bioorthogonal turn-on probes based on red-emissive fluorogens with aggregation-induced emission characteristics (AIEgens). The probe is water soluble and non-fluorescent due to the dissipation of energy through free molecular motion of the AIEgen, but the fluorescence is immediately turned on upon click reaction with azide-functionalized glycans on Cancer cell surface. The fluorescence turn-on is ascribed to the restriction of molecular motion of AIEgen, which populates the radiative decay channel. Moreover, the AIEgen can generate Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) upon visible light (λ=400-700 nm) irradiation, demonstrating its dual role as an imaging and phototherapeutic agent.

Keywords

aggregation-induced emission (AIE); bioorthogonal probe; click chemistry; imaging; phototherapy.

Figures
Products