A water-soluble AIEgen for ultrafast and wash-free imaging of plasma membranes in biosystems

Abstract

Visualizing the plasma membrane (PM) in biological systems is in a front field of life science research. Herein, a rotor-based compound Car-py with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) activity has been designed and synthesized. Car-py can selectively light-up the PM through binding to the lipid bilayer structure owing to a restriction of intramolecular motions (RIM). Importantly, compared with commercial PM dyes, Car-py exhibits many advantages, including wash-free procedure, good photostability, ultrafast staining process, long-term tracking, excellent plasma membrane specificity, and favorable biocompatibility, which were confirmed by the fluorescence image in vitro and in vivo. Such PM-specific probe may extend the arsenal of currently available fluorescent agents to visualize the plasma membrane.