Dual-Phase Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Luminogens: A Material for Time-Resolved Imaging Independent of Probe Pretreatment and Probe Concentration

Xuping Li; Gleb Baryshnikov; Longjiang Ding; Xiaoyan Bao; Xin Li; Jianjun Lu; Miaoqing Liu; Shen Shen; Mengkai Luo; Man Zhang; Hans Ågren; Xudong Wang; Liangliang Zhu

doi:10.1002/anie.202000185

Dual-Phase Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Luminogens: A Material for Time-Resolved Imaging Independent of Probe Pretreatment and Probe Concentration

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2020 May 4;59(19):7548-7554. doi: 10.1002/anie.202000185. Epub 2020 Mar 13.

Authors

Xuping Li^{1

2}, Gleb Baryshnikov³, Longjiang Ding⁴, Xiaoyan Bao², Xin Li³, Jianjun Lu¹, Miaoqing Liu¹, Shen Shen², Mengkai Luo², Man Zhang², Hans Ågren^{3

5}, Xudong Wang⁴, Liangliang Zhu²

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Coal Science and Technology, Ministry of Education and Shanxi Province, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Department of Macromolecular Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China.
³ Division of Theoretical Chemistry and Biology, School of Biotechnology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, 10691, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200438, China.
⁵ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Henan University, Kaifeng, Henan, 475004, P. R. China.

PMID: 32073698
DOI: 10.1002/anie.202000185

Abstract

Developing luminescent probes with long lifetime and high emission efficiency is essential for time-resolved imaging. However, the practical applications usually suffer from emission quenching of traditional luminogens in aggregated states, or from weak emission of aggregation-induced emission type luminogens in monomeric states. Herein, we overcome this dilemma by a rigid-and-flexible alternation design in donor-acceptor-donor skeletons, to achieve a thermally activated delayed fluorescence luminogen with high emission efficiency both in the monomeric state (quantum yield up to 35.3 %) and in the aggregated state (quantum yield up to 30.8 %). Such a dual-phase strong and long-lived emission allows a time-resolved luminescence imaging, with an efficiency independent of probe pretreatment and probe concentration. The findings open opportunities for developing luminescent probes with a usage in larger temporal and spatial scales.

Keywords: dual-phase emission; imaging agents; luminescence; self-assembly; thermally activated delayed fluorescence.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't