Photosensitizers are generally treated as key components for photodynamic therapy. In contrast, we herein report an aggregation-induced emission luminogen (AIEgen)-based photosensitizer (TPE-Py-FFGYSA) that can serve as a non-toxic adjuvant to amplify the antitumor efficacy of paclitaxel, a well-known anticancer drug, with a synergistic effect of “0 + 1 > 1”. Besides the adjuvant function, TPE-Py-FFGYSA can selectively light up EphA2 protein clusters overexpressed in cancer cells in a fluorescence turn-on mode, by taking advantage of the specific YSA peptide (YSAYPDSVPMMS)-EphA2 protein interaction. The simple incorporation of FFG as a self-assembly-aided unit between AIEgen (TPE-Py) and YSA significantly enhances the fluorescent signal output of TPE-Py when imaging EphA2 clusters in live cancer cells. Cytotoxicity and western blot studies reveal that the reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated by TPE-Py-FFGYSA upon exposure to light do not kill cancer cells, but instead provide an intracellular oxidative environment to help paclitaxel have much better efficacy. This study thus not only extends the application scope of photosensitizers, but also offers a unique theranostic system with the combination of diagnostic imaging and adjuvant antitumor therapy.

Chen Chao    Zhegang Song    Zheng Xiaoyan    He Zikai    Bin Liu    Huang Xuhui    Deling Kong    Dan Ding    唐本忠    

Chemical Science

2017

Fateminia Syed Mohammad Ali    Wang Zhiming    Goh Chiching    Manghnani Purnima Naresh    Wenbo Wu    Mao Duo    Ng Lai Guan    Zujin Zhao    唐本忠     Bin Liu   

Advanced Materials

2017

Pucci Andrea    Leung Nelson L. C.    Hor Andy    Wu Shuizhu    Gu Yuan    Li Bingshi    Liu Bin    Hu Rongrong    Anjun Qin    Chen Xiaohong    Li Zhen    Zhang Deqing    Krishnamoorthy Govindarajan    Dario Pasini    Tsuchiya Youichi    Wang Kun    He Xuewen    Peng Huiqing    Zhao Zujin    He Gang    唐本忠     Eric Rivard    Ito Fuyuki    Tian He    Zhu Ming-Qiang    Jingzhi Sun    Yoshiki Chujo    Kuang Guichao    Ma Yuguang    Tian Wenjing    Xu Bin    Tsutsumi Osamu    Duan Pengfei   

Faraday Discussions

2017

Since the discovery of the aggregation-induced emission (AIE) phenomenon in 2001, research on AIE molecules has drawn much attention, and this area has been expanding tremendously. This brief review will focus on recent advances in the science and application of AIE molecules, including new mechanistic understanding, new AIE molecules for sensing and imaging, stimuli-responsive AIE molecules and applications of AIE molecules for OLEDs. Moreover, this review will give a perspective on the possible opportunities and challenges that exist in the future for this area.

Wang Yuancheng    Zhang Guanxin    Gao Meng    Cai Yuanjing    Zhan Chi    Zujin Zhao    Zhang Deqing    唐本忠    

Faraday Discussions

2017

Leung Nelson L. C.    Pucci Andrea    Hu Rongrong    Campbell Eleanor E. B.    Krishnamoorthy Govindarajan    唐本忠     Wu Shuizhu    Zhang Feng    Mei Ju    Bai Wei    Li Bingshi    He Xuewen    Tang Youhong    Liu Bin    Zhang Ruoyu    Wang Zhaoyang    Anjun Qin    Li Zhen    Zhang Deqing    Dario Pasini    Tian Wenjing    Tsuchiya Youichi    Jadhav Thaksen    Wang Yijia    Zhao Zujin    He Gang    Li Kai    Eric Rivard    Zhu Ming-Qiang    Xu Bin    Sun Jing Zhi    Yoshiki Chujo    Hong Jin-Long    Kong Lingwei    Lu Ping    Chang Cheng-Chung    Wang Kun    Singh Ram Adhar   

Faraday Discussions

2017

Pucci Andrea    Hor Andy    Gao Meng    Wu Shuizhu    Yu Yunjian    Li Bingshi    He Xuewen    Liu Bin    Hu Rongrong    Lou Xiaoding    Li Zhen    Krishnamoorthy Govindarajan    Zhang Deqing    Dario Pasini    Tang Youhong    Tsuchiya Youichi    Wang Yijia    Yuan Wang Zhang    唐本忠     Ding Dan    Tian He    Zhu Ming-Qiang    Sun Jing Zhi    Tian Wenjing    Kuang Guichao    Wu Luling    Chen Junjian    Zhang Ruoyu    Jadhav Thaksen   

Faraday Discussions

2017

For polymer materials, both their compositions and preparation process greatly influence their service performance. Thus, the sound understanding of the relationship between materials' preparation processes and their properties is paramount. However, current research methods are partially limited due to the absence of a direct testing method to track the entire process, e.g. synthesizing, curing, ageing, and so on. With the ability for real-time sensitive characterization, fluorescence spectroscopy may be applied in testing polymer materials' performance. Here, we synthesized a novel aggregation induced emission (AIE) resin named TPE-EPOXY resin and prepared an AIE coating based on it. According to restriction of intramolecular rotation (RIR) mechanism, the preparation, curing, and aging processes for the AIE polymer resins & coatings could be studied with real-time observation. In addition, their properties could also be studied systematically. The results in this paper pave a good way to understand the relationship between the internal structure and the properties of polymer materials. Moreover, the prepared AIE polymer resins has a potential to expand the application fields of the AIE mechanism.

Li Weili    Yao Wei    Wang Jun    Qiu Zhenyu    Tang Ji-Jun    Shengyuan Yang    朱美芳    Xu Zexiao    Hu Rong    Anjun Qin    唐本忠    

RSC Advances

2017

Organic fluorophores have attracted great interest owing to their wide applications. They usually contain an electron-conjugated system with an aromatic moiety and show high emission in dilute solutions but weaker or even no emission upon aggregation. Here, a simple one-pot, three-component reaction (3CR) (method I) for the synthesis of various di- and monosubstituted aminomaleimides (DAMIs and MAMIs) has been developed, and the reported 3CR (method II) has been found to be efficient only for the synthesis of MAMIs with R = alkyl. Twelve AMIs were designed and synthesized for investigation of the influence of structures on their optical properties in monomers and aggregates. It was found that alkyl MAMIs, alkyl DAMIs, and aryl AMIs/DAMIs show very different fluorescence efficiencies in different solvents, and only MAMIs with butyl and oleyl show high emissions in powders similar to those in nonpolar solutions. Single-crystal structures indicate that their fluorescence efficiencies in aggregates mainly correlate with molecular packing modes. The efficient synthesis method, the sensitive fluorescence on−off response to protic solvents or polar solvents, and the unusual high emissions of AMI without any aromatic moiety in both monomer and aggregates are expected to attract great interest in the fields of application and theory.

Zhu Qiuhua    Ye Ziwei    Yang Weijie    Cai Xiaotie    唐本忠    

Journal of Organic Chemistry

2017

Ferrocene-based polymers have drawn much attention in the past decades due to their unique properties and promising applications. However, the synthesis of hyperbranched polymers is still a great challenge. Here, two ferrocene-based hyperbranched polytriazoles with high molecular weights are facilely prepared by the click polymerization reactions of ferrocene-containing diazides (1) and tris(4-ethynylphenyl)amine (2) using Cu(PPh)Br as catalyst in dimethylformamide at 60 °C for 5 and 9 h in satisfactory yields of 54.0% and 52.3%. The resulting polytriazoles are soluble in common organic solvents and thermally stable, with 5% weight loss temperatures up to 307 °C. They can be used as precursors to produce nanostructured ceramics with good magnetizability by pyrolysis at elevated temperature. (Figure presented.).

李红坤    Chi Weiwen    Liu Yajing    Yuan Wei    Yaowen Li    李永舫    唐本忠    

Macromolecular Rapid Communications

2017

The development of new polymerization methodology is crucial for polymer materials. Alkyne polymerization based on versatile reactions of C=C bonds have attracted much attention recently because they can produce a great diversity of polymer materials with unsaturated structures and potential semiconducting properties. Among that, the polymerizations between alkyne and amine/amide which afford nitrogen-substituted alkynes with the triple bonds strongly polarized by the nitrogen atoms are quite attractive but challenging. In this work, the polycoupling of alkynyl bromides and sulfonamides is reported as the first example to generate polymers with stable N-C=C bonds in the polymer main chain. The polycoupling of various aromatic/aliphatic alkynyl bromides and sulfonamides can be carried out at mild condition in the presence of CuSO·5HO, 1,10-phenanthroline, and KCO at 65 °C under nitrogen, affording poly(ynesulfonamide)s with high molecular weights (up to 22000 g/mol) in high yields (up to 95%). Incorporation of luminescent tetraphenylethene structure into the alkynyl bromide monomer can produce polymer with aggregation-induced emission property and aggregated state fluorescence quantum efficiency of 24.7%. The plentiful C=C bonds of the polymers can serve as efficient ligands for organometallization with Co(CO) to generate organometallics, which can be further pyrolyzed to afford magnetic ceramics with high magnetic susceptibility (M up to 80.9 emu/g) and low coercivity (H down to 0.008 kOe). This new polycoupling reaction provides an efficient tool for the construction of polymer materials with unique N-C=C structures, which paves the way to advanced functionalities of polymers derived from ynesulfonamide structures.

Wu Xiuying    Wei Bo    胡蓉蓉    唐本忠    

Macromolecules

2017