Aggregation-induced emission—fluorophores and applications

Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) is a novel photophysical phenomenon found in a group of luminogens that are not fluorescent in solution but are highly emissive in the aggregate or solid state. Since the first publication of AIE luminogens in 2001, AIE has become a hot research area in which the number of research papers regarding new AIE molecules and their applications has been increasing in an exponential manner. Thomson Reuters Essential Science Indicators ranked AIE no.3 among the Top 100 Research Frontiers in the field of Chemistry and Materials Science in 2013. In this review, I will give a general introduction of the AIE phenomenon, discuss the structure-property relationship of the AIE lumingens and summarize the recent progress in the applications including as light-emitting materials in optoelectronics, as chemosensors and bioprobes, and for bioimaging (total 69 references cited).