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Afterglow bio-applications by utilizing triplet excited states of organic materials

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Abstract

Organic room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials with persistent afterglow exhibit good biocompatibility, high signal to noise ratio and time resolved imaging characteristics in bio-applications. Moreover, they can serve as hypoxia detection probes and photodynamic therapy agents for the sensitivity of triplet excitons toward oxygen in the surroundings. In this review, the recent progress of in vitro and in vivo afterglow bioimaging is presented by utilizing organic RTP materials. The strategies of molecular design and controlling methods of molecular packing were summarized, to prompt this new rising research field, with the emphasis on high intensity, ultralong lifetimes and red-shifted wavelengths of phosphorescence emission.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22235006, 22122504, 51973162), the Foundation of Hubei Scientific Committee (2022BAA015), Wuhan city (whkxjsj014), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2042023kf2058).

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  1. Hubei Key Lab on Organic and Polymeric Opto-Electronic Materials, TaiKang Center for Life and Medical Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Yuanyuan Fan, Qianqian Li & Zhen Li

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Fan, Y., Li, Q. & Li, Z. Afterglow bio-applications by utilizing triplet excited states of organic materials. Sci. China Chem. 66, 2930–2940 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-023-1790-0

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