Rational design of asymmetric red fluorescent probes for live cell imaging with high AIE effects and large two-photon absorption cross sections using tunable terminal groups.

In this work, we report the synthesis of a family of donor-acceptor (D-A) π-conjugated aggregation-induced red emission materials (, , and ) with the same core 2,2-(2,2-diphenylethene-1,1-diyl)dithiophene (DPDT) and different amounts and different strengths of electron-donating terminal moieties. Interestingly, and , which have asymmetric structures, give obviously higher solid fluorescence quantum efficiencies in comparison with those of the corresponding symmetric structures, and , respectively. In particular, the thin film of exhibited the highest fluorescence quantum efficiency of 38% with the highest .

Hexaphenylbenzene-Based, π-Conjugated Snowflake-Shaped Luminophores: Tunable Aggregation-Induced Emission Effect and Piezofluorochromism.

In this work, two rigid, multiple tetraphenylethene (TPE)-substituted, π-conjugated, snowflake-shaped luminophores BT and BPT were facilely synthesized by using a 6-fold Suzuki coupling reaction. These molecules are constructed based on the nonplanar structure of propeller-shaped hexaphenylbenzene (HPB) or benzene as core groups and TPE as end groups. As a result, they reserve the intrinsic aggregation-induced emission (AIE) property of the TPE moiety.