AIE materials for nucleus imaging

Abstract

Emergence of a captivating phenomenon aggregation induced emission (AIE) in the early years of 21st century attracted worldwide researchers. In the last two decades various novel AIE active biocompatible small molecules, macromolecules and polymers have been developed for diverse biomedical applications. Imaging of specific organelle such as mitochondria, ribosomes, nuclei and many others play important in the controlling and successful treatment of various diseases. Conventional luminescent probe molecules used in the imaging at cellular or subcellular level exhibit very weak emission on dispersion or on aggregation in aqueous media. AIE luminogens development is indispensable to overcome the notorious aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) issue inherited by conventional fluorophores. In the present chapter we mostly highlighted over one decade development of various AIE active luminogens utilized for imaging of cell nucleus, nucleon and nucleic acids. The development of those AIE luminogens exhibits promising results in the early diagnosis of cancer diseases.

Keywords: Aggregation induced emission (AIE); Cancer cell; DND; Imaging; Nucleus.