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A New Strategy toward “Simple” Water‐Soluble AIE Probes for Hypoxia Detection
Author(s) -
Xu Changhuo,
Zou Hang,
Zhao Zheng,
Zhang Pengfei,
Kwok Ryan T. K.,
Lam Jacky W. Y.,
Sung Herman H. Y.,
Williams Ian D.,
Tang Ben Zhong
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201903278
Subject(s) - fluorescence , tumor hypoxia , aggregation induced emission , materials science , biophysics , aqueous solution , molecule , ferrous , intramolecular force , covalent bond , in vitro , combinatorial chemistry , hypoxia (environmental) , small molecule , nanotechnology , chemistry , oxygen , organic chemistry , biochemistry , biology , physics , medicine , quantum mechanics , metallurgy , radiation therapy
Hypoxia‐responsive fluorescent probes have emerged as a novel scaffold for tumor diagnosis. However, dilemma often exists between simple synthesis and high water solubility in traditional probes. Owing to the intrinsic property of N‐oxides, herein, a new strategy is proposed to design and synthesize probes for in vitro hypoxia imaging. Equipped with tetraphenylethene (TPE), the N‐oxides exhibit aggregation‐induced emission characteristics and emit no light in aqueous solutions. Interestingly, the N‐oxides can be reduced by ferrous ions in different rates. The aggregation of the resulting hydrophobic TPE residues restricts the intramolecular motions of the molecules, which “turns‐on” their fluorescence. The NO covalent bond of one molecule can be specifically cleaved by cellular reductase overexpressed under hypoxic conditions, and thus turn‐on hypoxia imaging in vitro is achieved. The new strategy to design hypoxia imaging probes is extremely valuable and has great potential for application in tumor diagnosis.