The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Engui Zhao

Benzhong Tang

Wai Tung Leung

Haiqin Deng

Yuning Hong

Sijie Chen

Tsz Kin Kwok

Meijuan Jiang

Ni Xie

Lucia Viglianti

Zhiming Wang

Chen Gui

Yueyue Zhao

The present subject matter relates to ATE luminogens for visualization and treatment of cancer, particularly AIE luminogenic probes for cancer cell visualization and discrimination, lysosome-targeting AIEgens for imaging and autophagy visualization, highly fluorescent AIE-active theranostic agents for monitoring drug distribution and having anti-tumor activity to specific cancer cells, probes comprising AIE luminogens for cancer cell imaging and staining, AIE luminogens having clusteroluminogenic features and applications thereof, and methods of preparing thereof.

Aie luminogens for visualization and treatment of cancer

AIE (aggregation-induced emission)-active TPE derivatives, TPE-TPP, TPE-MitoR and TPE-IQ are contemplated. These specific TPE derivatives are useful as fluorescent agents for mitochondrial imaging and as apoptosis inducers. Possessing high specificity to mitochondria, superior photostability and appreciable tolerance to microenvironment change, TPE derivatives are well-suited imaging agents for mitochondrial targeting and morphological change tracking. Because of their synthetic flexibility, TPE derivatives can be further modified as dual-functional probes for an array of applications such as sensing of ROS, metal ions, or pH change in mitochondria.

Photostable AIE luminogens for specific mitochondrial imaging and its method of manufacturing thereof

Growing community of inventors

Hong Kong, China

Engui Zhao