Reactive oxygen species, thiols and enzymes activable AIEgens from single fluorescence imaging to multifunctional theranostics

Abstract

Reactive oxygen species (ROS), thiols and enzymes are regarded as important biomarkers in the physiological process. The abnormal levels of the above species are associated with many diseases, developing a fluorescence detection method for biomarkers is of great significance for diseases early diagnosis and therapy. Compared with traditional fluorescent dyes, aggregation-induced emission (ALE) based fluorescent emitters display excellent photostability with minimum aggregation caused quenching (ACQ) effect. Thus, the biomarker-activable AIEgens have attracted much attentions in biomedical research. In addition, many AIE emitters not only act as fluorescent dyes, but serve as promising theranostic agents. The AIE based image-guided multifunctional theranostics under the activation of biomarkers are vital to the precise biomedicine. This view focuses on the recent development of ROS, thiols, and enzymes activable AIEgens from single fluorescence imaging to multifunctional theranostics. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.