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Recent Advances in Pure-Organic Host–Guest Room-Temperature Phosphorescence Systems Toward Bioimaging

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Abstract

Organic room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials have garnered considerable attention in the fields of biosensing, optoelectronic devices, and anticounterfeiting because of their substantial Stokes shifts, tunable emission wavelengths, and prolonged lifetimes. These materials offer remarkable advantages for biological imaging applications by effectively reducing environmental autofluorescence and enhancing imaging resolution. Recently, host–guest systems have been employed as efficient approaches to fabricate pure-organic RTP materials for bioimaging, providing benefits such as controllable preparation and flexible modulation. Consequently, an increasing number of corresponding studies are being reported; however, a comprehensive systematic review is still lacking. Therefore, we summarize recent advances in the development of pure-organic RTP materials using host–guest systems with regard to bioimaging, including rigid matrices and sensitization. The challenge and potential of RTP for biological imaging are also proposed to promote the biomedical applications of organic RTP materials with excellent optical properties.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Reproduced with permission from Ref. [47]. Copyright 2018 American Chemical Society. b Guest molecules for the complexation with CDs. c Emission spectra of MTC and PTC in the presence of various CDs. d Images of the tetravalent anionic compounds with 1 equiv. ratio of various CDs under UV light irradiation (λex = 365 nm). Reproduced with permission from Ref. [48]. Copyright 2022 Wiley–VCH

Fig. 3

Reproduced with permission from Ref. [50]. Copyright 2020 Wiley–VCH. c Absorption and emission spectra of assembly BH-PY. Insets: images of BH-PY and BH-PY/CB[8] in an aqueous solution at 298 K under UV light (305 nm). d Scheme of the supramolecular assembly with CB[8]. Reproduced with permission from Ref. [51]. Copyright 2022 Springer. e Molecular structure of guests (G1–G3) and hosts (CB[n]). Reproduced with permission from Ref. [52]. Copyright 2022 Royal Society of Chemistry

Fig. 4

Reproduced with permission from Ref. [53]. Copyright 2022 Wiley–VCH. c Scheme and molecular structures of the photo-controlled NIR phosphorescence of DTE-TP/CB[8]; d Changes in the emission and absorption of DTE-TP following the addition of CB[8] (2 equiv. ratio). Reproduced with permission from Ref. [54]. Copyright 2022 Wiley–VCH

Fig. 5

Reproduced with permission from Ref. [55]. Copyright 2021 Wiley–VCH

Fig. 6

Reproduced with permission from Ref. [56]. Copyright 2023 American Association for the Advancement of Science

Fig. 7

Reproduced with permission from Ref. [57]. Copyright 2022 Chinese Chemical Society. b Molecular structures of host and guest molecules and F127-derived NPs for biological imaging. Reproduced with permission from Ref. [58]. Copyright 2023 Wiley–VCH

Fig. 8

Reproduced with permission from Ref. [59]. Copyright 2022 Springer Nature

Fig. 9

Reproduced with permission from Ref. [8]. Copyright © 2021 American Chemical Society

Fig. 10

Reproduced with permission from Ref. [64]. Copyright 2020 Wiley–VCH. b Scheme of the assembly of polysaccharide supramolecular RTP-harvesting system with NIR emission in water and related molecular structures. Reproduced with permission from Ref. [65]. Copyright 2022 Wiley–VCH. c Schematic of a photodimerization-enhanced secondary purely organic RTP capture system. Reproduced with permission from Ref. [66]. Copyright 2023 Wiley–VCH

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 22125803, 22020102006 and 22307036), a project supported by the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Major Project (No. 2018SHZDZX03), the Program of Shanghai Academic/Technology Research Leader (No. 20XD1421300), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2023M731079), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.

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  1. Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Feringa Nobel Prize Scientist Joint Research Center, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China

    Zhiqin Wu, Yang Li & Xiang Ma

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  1. Zhiqin Wu
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Wu, Z., Li, Y. & Ma, X. Recent Advances in Pure-Organic Host–Guest Room-Temperature Phosphorescence Systems Toward Bioimaging. Trans. Tianjin Univ. 29, 432–443 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12209-023-00375-w

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