Citation: Yaxi Li, Xuekun Zhang, Ran Ren, Haozhou Tang, Anjun Zhu, Sha Zhu, Yuwei Zhang, Ninghan Feng, Andong Shao, Jianming Ni. Molecularly amphiphilic NIR-Ⅱ AIEgen assemblies: Ultra-small fluorescent dots for tumor-targeted imaging with high signal-to-noise ratio[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2026, 37(4): 111145. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111145 shu

Molecularly amphiphilic NIR-Ⅱ AIEgen assemblies: Ultra-small fluorescent dots for tumor-targeted imaging with high signal-to-noise ratio

Yaxi Li ^{a, 1} ,
Xuekun Zhang ^{b, 1} ,
Ran Ren ^a ,
Haozhou Tang ^{a, b} ,
Anjun Zhu ^a ,
Sha Zhu ^c ,
Yuwei Zhang ^c ,
Ninghan Feng ^{c, *,} ,
Andong Shao ^{b, *,} ,
Jianming Ni ^{a, *,}

a.
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Jiangnan University Medical Center (JUMC), Wuxi No.2 People's Hospital, Wuxi 214002, China
b.
Key Laboratory of Carbohydrate Vaccines and Drugs in Jiangsu Province, School of Life Sciences and Health Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214122, China
c.
Department of Urology, Affiliated Wuxi Clinical College of Nantong University, Nantong 226007, China

n.feng@njmu.edu.cn

adshao@jiangnan.edu.cn

jianming_ni@163.com

Received Date: 9 January 2025
Revised Date: 21 March 2025
Accepted Date: 26 March 2025
Available Online: 27 March 2025

Figures(5)

Accurate cancer diagnosis is essential for fluorescence surgical navigation to eliminate tumors. Second near-infrared (NIR-Ⅱ, 1000–1700 nm) probes with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) nature possess bright fluorescence in a biological environment. However, due to the large particle sizes, NIR-Ⅱ AIE probes usually lead to high liver retention, which is not conducive to tumor enrichment. Therefore, this work constructs a novel amphiphilic NIR-Ⅱ AIE molecule, TTB-PEG1000, which can self-assemble into ultra-small fluorescent dots (7 nm) in the aqueous environment with a maximum emission at 1080 nm. Based on its excellent photostability, morphological stability, and biocompatibility, TTB-PEG1000 shows a desirable definition of angiography capability with high signal-to-background (SBR) in the NIR-Ⅱ AIE window over 1300 nm. Notably, treatment with TTB-PEG1000 in the glioma-tumor mice results in a significant enhancement of the accumulation in the tumor and reduction of the retention in the liver, in which the fluorescent ratio between tumor and liver (T/L) is 32-fold higher than that of their contrast (TTB-COOH NPs) prepared by the nanoprecipitation method. This work is the first report of an amphiphilic AIE molecule with NIR-Ⅱ maximum emission and sub-10 nm size, which will promise for preclinical applications and inspire further exploration of NIR-Ⅱ fluorophores for advanced biomedical imaging.
- NIR-Ⅱ fluorescence,
- Aggregation-induced emission,
- Amphiphilic probes,
- Organic dots,
- Tumor imaging
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