Rational design of red AIEgens with a new corestructure from non-emissive heteroaromatics

摘要

The development of new aggregation-induced emission (AIE) systems is a hot research topic, from whichfunctional materials with diversified structures and properties are derived. Here, based on rare, nonemissive and highly electron-withdrawing heteroaromatics of 1,4,5,8-tetraazaanthracene (TAA),experimental and theoretical studies reveal that attaching phenyl rotors to TAA is crucial to creatinga new N-type AIE core structure. Furthermore, by covalent attachment of electron-donating aromaticamines to the peripheries of the AIE core, red AIEgens could be obtained readily, which exhibit excellentphotostability for long-term lysosome tracking. This work not only provides a new strategy to designheterocycle-containing AIEgens from non-emissive heteroaromatics but also stimulates more theirapplications as bio-imaging materials.