Thermally activated delayed fluorescence molecules and their new applications aside from OLEDs

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence(TADF) organic molecules feature with long-lived delayed fluorescence, because they can undergo not only efficient intersystem crossing(ISC), but also efficient reverse intersystem crossing(RISC) at room temperature. As a new type of luminescent molecules, they have exhibited successful applications in organic light emitting diodes(OLEDs). Aside from OLEDs, they are also found to have potential applications in time-resolved luminescence imaging based on long-lived fluorescence property. Meanwhile, due to their excited triplet characteristic originated from efficient ISC,they were found to be applied in triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion(TTA-UC), photodynamic therapy(PDT) and organic photocatalytic synthesis. This review briefly summarizes the characteristics and excellent photophysical properties of TADF organic compounds, then covers their applications to date aside from OLEDs based on their highly efficient ISC ability and RISC ability at room temperature.

Rational design of a visible-light photochromic diarylethene:a simple strategy by extending conjugation with electron donating groups

Photochromic diarylethenes have been widely used in many fields. However, their cyclization process must be induced by UV light. In this article, a simple strategy is developed by extending π-conjugation with electron donating groups. The modified dirylethene derivative can photocyclolize under 405-nm light with a good photochromic efficiency. Meanwhile, its absorption and moderate fluorescence can be switched effectively in both directions by visible lights(405 and 520 nm, respectively) in different solutions and in living cells. We believe that this simple method will become a versatile strategy for developing various dirylethylenes with visible-light photochromism.

Self-assembly of amphiphilic peptides to construct activatable nanophotosensitizers for theranostic photodynamic therapy

A variety of nano-engineered photosensitizers have been developed for photodynamic therapy(PDT)of cancer diseases. However, traditional nano-engineering methods usually cannot avoid drug leakage and premature release, and have disadvantages such as low drug load and inaccurate release.The self-assembly strategy based on amphiphilic peptides has been considered to be more attractive nano-engineering method. Here we developed novel acid-activatable self-assembled nanophotosensitizers based on an amphiphilic peptide derivative. The peptide derivative was synthesized from a fluorescein molecule with thermally activated delayed fluorescence(TADF). The self-assembled nanophotosensitizers can specifically enter the tumor cells and disassemble inside lysosomes companied with “turn-on” fluorescence and photodynamic therapy effect. Such smart nanophotosensitizers will open new opportunities for cancer theranostics.

Fine-tailoring the linker of near-infrared fluorescence probes for nitroreductase imaging in hypoxic tumor cells

Imaging hypoxia using fluorescence probes for nitroreductase（NTR） have attracted much attention in last decade. At least three different linkers have been commonly used to connect the recognition unit and reporting unit in reported probes for NTR. Meanwhile, the linker is known to be a key factor for achieving best sensing performance. In this work, three near-infrared fluorescence probes CyNP-1, CyNP-2 and CyNP-3 were designed and synthesized from an aminocyanine dye CyNP. The three probes have the same recognition unit and same fluorescence reporting unit, but different linkers. CyNP-1 was found to have the best sensing performance for NTR with 40-fold of fluorescence enhancement. It is well investigated how the difference of the linkers brings out the different sensing performance by HPLC, MS and docking calculations. In the end, CyNP-1 was found to have good selectivity for NTR and used to imaging hypoxia in Hela cells.