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Lab-in-cell based on spontaneous amino-yne click polymerization

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Abstract

Unnatural reaction in the living cells is a powerful tool for biological research. However, the polymerization inside cells is rarely reported. In this work, a lab-in-cell is illustrated based on our developed spontaneous amino-yne click polymerization. Carbonyl group activated terminal diyne can spontaneously polymerize with tetraphenylethene (TPE)-containing primary diamine inside cells, and polymer with weight-average molecular weight of 7,300 was yielded. By utilizing this in vivo amino-yne click polymerization and taking advantage of the aggregation-induced emission feature of TPE, a “turn-on” cell imaging was realized, and in-situ killing of cells was also acquired by destroying the structures of actin and tubulin, which cannot be realized by pre-prepared polymer. This strategy provides a useful platform and holds great promise in biochemistry and therapy applications.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21788102, 21525417, 21490571), the National Program for Support of Top-Notch Young Professionals, the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2016A030312002, 2018A030313763, 2019B030301003), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2015ZY013), and the Innovation and Technology Commission of Hong Kong (ITC-CNERC14S01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, Center for Aggregation-Induced Emission, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Rong Hu, Xu Chen, Taotao Zhou, Han Si, Anjun Qin & Ben Zhong Tang

  2. Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Centre for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, Institute for Advanced Study, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Hong Kong, China

    Benzhao He, Ryan T. K. Kwok & Ben Zhong Tang

Authors
  1. Rong Hu
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  2. Xu Chen
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  3. Taotao Zhou
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  4. Han Si
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  5. Benzhao He
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  6. Ryan T. K. Kwok
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  7. Anjun Qin
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  8. Ben Zhong Tang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Anjun Qin or Ben Zhong Tang.

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Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Hu, R., Chen, X., Zhou, T. et al. Lab-in-cell based on spontaneous amino-yne click polymerization. Sci. China Chem. 62, 1198–1203 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-019-9517-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-019-9517-9

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