The effect of magnetic coupling along the magnetic axis on slow magnetic relaxation in DyIII complexes with D5h configuration based on an aggregation-induced-emission-active ligand

The adjustment of crystal symmetry and intramolecular magnetic coupling is of great importance for the construction of high-performance single-molecule magnets. By using an aggregation-induced-emission-active pyridine-carbohydrazone-based Schiff base ligand and phosphine oxides, four dinuclear and one one-dimensional DyIII-based complexes, [Dy2(TPE-pc)2(Bu3PO)2Cl2]·2CH3CN·2H2O (1), [Dy2(TPE-pc)2(Cy3PO)2Cl2] (2), [Dy2(TPE-pc)2(MePA)2Cl2]·2CH3OH (3), [Dy2(TPE-pc)2(Ph3PO)2Cl2]2 (4) and [Dy2(TPE-pc)2(DPPO)Cl2]n (5) (H2TPE-pc = (E)-N'-(2-hydroxy-5-(1,2,2-triphenylvinyl)benzylidene)picolinohydrazide, MePA = N-phenyl-N',N''-bis(morpholinyl) phosphoric triamide, DPPO = piperazine-1,4-diylbis(diphenyl phosphine oxide)), were isolated. All complexes are made up of an enol oxygen-bridged Dy2 unit, where DyIII ions possess a pentagonal bipyramidal geometry with pseudo D5h symmetry. Magnetic measurements reveal that intramolecular DyIII-DyIII couplings are ferromagnetic and all complexes display a significant slow magnetic relaxation phenomenon below 30 K under a zero dc field. Ab initio calculations indicate that the anisotropic magnetic axes of all DyIII ions are approximately perpendicular to the higher-order symmetric axes in all complexes, and that DyIII-DyIII magnetic couplings along the magnetic axes effectively suppress the ground state quantum tunneling effect of magnetization and promote the occurrence of slow magnetic relaxation. Raman relaxation prevails in all complexes. In addition, the H2TPE-pc ligand shows an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) effect; however, all complexes exhibit an aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) phenomenon.

Water-soluble organic macrocycles based on dye chromophores and their applications

Traditional water-soluble organic macrocyclic receptors generally lack photofunctionality, thus monitoring the drug delivery and the phototheranostic applications of these host-guest macrocyclic systems has been greatly restricted. To address this issue, incorporating π-conjugated dye chromophores as building blocks into macrocyclic molecules is a straightforward and promising strategy. This approach not only imparts intrinsic optical features to the macrocycles themselves but also enhances the host-guest binding ability due to the large planar structures of the dyes. In this feature article, we focus on recent advances in water-soluble macrocyclic compounds based on organic dye chromophores, such as naphthalimide (NDI), perylene diimides (PDI), azobenzene (azo), tetraphenylethylene (TPE) and anthracene, and provide an overview of their various applications including molecular recognition, drug release, biological imaging, photothermal therapy, etc. We hope that this article could be helpful and instructive for the design of water-soluble dye-based macrocycles and the further development of their biomedical applications, particularly in combination with drug therapy and phototheranostics.

Conjugated Aggregation-Induced Fluorescent Materials for Biofluorescent Probes: A Review

The common fluorescent conjugated materials present weak or quenching luminescent phenomena in the solid or aggregate state (ACQ), which limits their applications in medicine and biology. In the last two decades, certain materials, named aggregation-induced emission (AIE) fluorescent materials, have exhibited strong luminescent properties in the aggregate state, which can overcome the ACQ phenomenon. Due to their intrinsic properties, the AIE materials have been successfully used in biolabeling, where they can not only detect the species of ions and their concentrations in organisms, but can also monitor the organisms' physiological activity. In addition, these kinds of materials often present non-biological toxicity. Thus, AIE materials have become some of the most popular biofluorescent probe materials and are attracting more and more attention. This field is still in its early infancy, and several open challenges urgently need to be addressed, such as the materials' biocompatibility, metabolism, and so on. Designing a high-performance AIE material for biofluorescent probes is still challenging. In this review, based on the molecular design concept, various AIE materials with functional groups in the biofluorescent probes are introduced, including tetrastyrene materials, distilbene anthracene materials, triphenylamine materials, and hexaphenylsilole materials. In addition, according to the molecular system design strategy, the donor-acceptor (D-A) system and hydrogen-bonding AIE materials used as biofluorescent probes are reviewed. Finally, the biofluorescent probe design concept and potential evolution trends are discussed. The final goal is to outline a theoretical scaffold for the design of high-performance AIE biofluorescent probes that can at the same time further the development of the applications of AIE-based biofluorescent probes.

Complexes of Zn(II) with a mixed tryptanthrin derivative and curcumin chelating ligands as new promising anticancer agents

In this study, two novel curcumin (H-Cur)-tryptanthrin metal compounds-[Zn(TA)Cl₂], i.e., Zn(TA), and [Zn(TA)(Cur)]Cl, i.e., Zn(TAC)-were synthesized and investigated using 5-(bis-pyridin-2-ylmethyl-amino)-pentanoic acid (6,12-dioxo-6,12-dihydro-indolo[2,1-b]quinazolin-8-yl)-amide (TA) and H-Cur as the targeting and high-activity anticancer chemotherapeutic moieties, respectively. They were then compared with the di-(2-picolyl)amine (PA) Zn(II) complex [Zn(PA)Cl₂], i.e., Zn(PA). When compared with Zn(PA) and cisplatin, the IC₅₀ values of Zn(TA) and Zn(TAC) indicated that the compounds had high cytotoxicity against A549/DDP cancer cells, implying that the H-Cur-tryptanthrin Zn(II) compounds have the potential for use as anticancer drugs. We propose the use of synthesized theragnostic H-Cur-tryptanthrin Zn(II) complexes with nuclear-targeting and DNA-damaging capabilities as a simple therapeutic strategy against tumors. The Zn(TA) and Zn(TAC) complexes could be traced via red fluorescence and were found to accumulate in the cell nuclei and induce DNA damage, cell cycle arrest, mitochondrial dysfunction, and cell apoptosis both in vitro and in vivo. In addition, Zn(TAC) exhibited a higher antiproliferative effect on A549/DDP than Zn(TA) and Zn(PA), which was undoubtedly associated with the key roles of the novel tryptanthrin derivative TA and H-Cur in the Zn(TAC) complex.

A Triazole Functionalized txt-Type Metal-Organic Framework with High Performance for CH4 Uptake and Selective CO2 Adsorption

The metal-organic framework (MOF) NTUniv-54 (NTUniv = Nantong University) was assembled via utilizing click chemistry with densely decorated trizole units and exposed metal sites, which exhibited the best methane working ability (197 cm³·cm^-3 from 100 to 5 bar and 177 cm³·cm^-3 from 65 to 5 bar at 298 K), and the lowest CO₂ Q_st of 22.8 kJ·mol^-1 in all triazole-MOFs at room temperature.

Zinc (II) and AIEgens: The "Clip Approach" for a Novel Fluorophore Family. A Review

Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) compounds display a photophysical phenomenon in which the aggregate state exhibits stronger emission than the isolated units. The common term of "AIEgens" was coined to describe compounds undergoing the AIE effect. Due to the recent interest in AIEgens, the search for novel hybrid organic-inorganic compounds with unique luminescence properties in the aggregate phase is a relevant goal. In this perspective, the abundant, inexpensive, and nontoxic d10 zinc cation offers unique opportunities for building AIE active fluorophores, sensing probes, and bioimaging tools. Considering the novelty of the topic, relevant examples collected in the last 5 years (2016-2021) through scientific production can be considered fully representative of the state-of-the-art. Starting from the simple phenomenological approach and considering different typological and chemical units and structures, we focused on zinc-based AIEgens offering synthetic novelty, research completeness, and relevant applications. A special section was devoted to Zn(II)-based AIEgens for living cell imaging as the novel technological frontier in biology and medicine.

Ratiometric sensing of Zn2+ with a new benzothiazole-based fluorescent sensor and living cell imaging

A new fluorescent probe, 3-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)-5-bromosalicylaldehyde-⁴N-phenyl thiosemicarbazone (BTT), for ratiometric sensing of Zn²⁺ ions in methanol/HEPES buffer solution (3 : 2, pH = 7.4) is reported in this paper. The presence of Zn²⁺ ions yields a significant blue shift in the maximum emission of BTT from 570 nm to 488 nm, accompanied by a clear color change from orange to green. This emission change of BTT upon binding to Zn²⁺ in a 1 : 1 ratio may be due to the block of excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) as well as chelation enhanced fluorescence (CHEF) on complex formation. The limit of detection (LOD) determined for Zn²⁺ quantitation was down to 37.7 nM. In addition, the probe BTT displays the ability to image both exogenous Zn²⁺ ions loaded into HeLa cells and endogenous Zn²⁺ distribution in living SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells.