Highly Selective AIEgen-Based "Turn On" Fluorescent Imaging for Inflammation Detection.

Hypochlorous acid (HClO) is released by immune cells in the immune system, and it helps the body fight off infections and inflammation by killing bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens. However, tissue damage or apoptosis may also be induced by excess HClO. On this basis, we designed the probe TPE-NS by choosing tetraphenylethylene (TPE) as the luminescent unit and dimethylthiocarbamoyl chloride as the recognition site. By Gaussian's transition state calculations, HClO will cut off the photoinduced electron transfer (PET) effect of TPE-NS by hydrolysis reaction, thus emitting strong fluorescence. TPE-NS has rapid recognition and excellent specificity for HClO, and the limit of detection is 7.27 μM. Finally, TPE-NS was successfully used for the visualization of endogenous and exogenous HClO in cell experiments.