Maltose: A natural disaccharide with aggregation-induced emission and room temperature phosphorescence and its multiple applications

In this study, a novel aggregation-induced emission (AIE) material of maltose (mal) was found. Due to mal has various oxygen clusters with a sufficiently rigid conformation, which makes the clustering-triggered emission (CTE) mechanism more rational. Since Fe3+ can quench the fluorescence of mal, thus, mal can be used as a biosensor to detect Fe3+. Furthermore, mal has room temperature phosphorescence. So, mal has broad application prospects in anti-counterfeiting display. In addition, due to mal is excitation-dependent, it can also be used as a three-color bioimaging.