A novel fluorophore based on the coupling of AIE and ESIPT mechanisms and its application in biothiol imaging.

A novel fluorophore TPE-HBT was designed based on the intersection of tetraphenylethene (TPE) and 2-(2'-hydroxyphenyl)benzothiazole (HBT). Owing to the synergistic effect of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) and excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) mechanisms, this fluorophore exhibits excellent performance with a high solid-state fluorescence quantum yield (Φ = 0.97) and a large Stokes shift (>200 nm). Moreover, its simple modification with the 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfonyl group makes it suitable for biothiol imaging.