Optimising molecular rotors to AIE fluorophores for mitochondria uptake and retention
Tze Cin Owyong, Siyang Ding, Na Wu, Thomas Fellowes, Sijie Chen, Jonathan M. White, Wallace W. H. Wong, Yuning Hong
Abstract
Molecular rotors exhibit fluorescence enhancement in a confined environment and thus have been used extensively in biological imaging. However, many molecular rotors suffer from small Stokes shift and self-aggregation caused quenching. In this work, we have synthesised a series of red emissive molecular rotors based on cationic α-cyanostilbene. Profoundly enhanced aggregation-induced emission (AIE) properties and greatly widened Stokes shifts can be achieved by molecular engineering. With specificity to stain mitochondria, we demonstrate a simple approach to achieve cell uptake and retention upon tuning the pyridinium substituent of the dyes.