Fluorescence Self-Reporting Precipitation Polymerization Based on Aggregation-Induced Emission for Constructing Optical Nanoagents

Precipitation polymerization is becoming increasingly popular in energy, environment and biomedicine. However, its proficient utilization highly relies on the mechanistic understanding of polymerization process. Now, a fluorescence self-reporting method based on aggregation-induced emission (AIE) is used to shed light on the mechanism of precipitation polymerization. The nucleation and growth processes during the copolymerization of a vinyl-modified AIEgen, styrene, and maleic anhydride can be sensitively monitored in real time. The phase-separation and dynamic hardening processes can be clearly discerned by tracking fluorescence changes. Moreover, polymeric fluorescent particles (PFPs) with uniform and tunable sizes can be obtained in a self-stabilized manner. These PFPs exhibit biolabeling and photosensitizing abilities and are used as superior optical nanoagents for photo-controllable immunotherapy, indicative of their great potential in biomedical applications.

沉淀聚合在能源、环境和生物医学领域日益受到关注。然而，其熟练应用在很大程度上依赖于对聚合过程的机理理解。现在，一种基于聚集诱导发光（AIE）的荧光自报告方法被用于阐明沉淀聚合的机理。在乙烯基修饰的AIE活性分子、苯乙烯和马来酸酐的共聚过程中，成核和生长过程能够被实时灵敏地监测。通过追踪荧光变化，可以清晰地辨别相分离和动态硬化过程。此外，能够以自稳定的方式获得尺寸均匀且可调的聚合物荧光颗粒（PFPs）。这些PFPs展现出生物标记和光敏能力，并被用作光控免疫治疗的优良光学纳米试剂，这表明它们在生物医学应用中具有巨大潜力。