Aggregation‐Induced Emission: Recent Advances in Materials and Biomedical Applications

• Published in: Angewandte Chemie International Edition Vol. 59; no. 25; pp. 9868 - 9886
• Main Authors: Cai, Xiaolei, Liu, Bin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 15.06.2020
• Edition: International ed. in English
• Subjects: Agglomeration; aggregation-induced emission; AIE molecular probes; AIE nanoparticles; Animals; bioimaging; Biomedical materials; Emission; Emissions; Fluorescent Dyes - chemistry; Fluorescent indicators; Humans; image-guided therapy; Imaging; Molecular Probes; Nanoparticles; Optical Imaging - methods; Probes; Theranostic Nanomedicine; aggregation-induced emission; AIE molecular probes; AIE nanoparticles; bioimaging; image-guided therapy
• ISSN: 1433-7851; 1521-3773; 1521-3773
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.202000845

The concept of aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) has opened new opportunities in many research fields. Motivated by the unique feature of AIE fluorogens (AIEgens), during the past decade, many AIE molecular probes and AIE nanoparticle (NP) probes have been developed for sensing, imaging and theranostic applications with excellent performance outperforming conventional fluorescent probes. This Review summarizes the latest advancement of AIE molecular probes and AIE NP probes and their emerging biomedical applications. Special focus is to reveal how the AIE probes are evolved with the development of new multifunctional AIEgens, and how new strategies have been developed to overcome the limitations of traditional AIE probes for more translational applications via fluorescence imaging, photoacoustic imaging and image‐guided photodynamic/photothermal therapy. The outlook discusses the challenges and future opportunities for AIEgens to advance the biomedical field. Fluorogens with aggregation‐induced emission (AIEgens) have stimulated the development of AIE molecular probes and AIE nanoparticle probes for various biomedical applications. This Review reveals how the AIE probes have evolved with the development of new multifunctional AIEgens, and how new strategies have been developed to overcome the limitations of traditional AIE probes for more translational applications.