A novel triphenylamine-based aggregation-induced emission (AIE) probe for breast cancer imaging in vitro and in vivo.

Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) probes have attracted considerable interest in bioanalysis because of their good photostability, high imaging contrast, and longtime tracing capability. Herein, we developed a new AIE-active probe, AIE-BC, by conjugating triphenylamine (TPA) to bithiophene via Suzuki coupling reaction. AIE-BC exhibited AIE character, excellent photostability, and superior biocompatibility. Flow cytometry analyzes revealed that AIE-BC was selectively taken up by MCF-7 cells, a result complemented by clear in vitro cellular images obtained from confocal microscopy. Further in vivo and ex vivo imaging studies demonstrated that AIE-BC could effectively accumulate in the tumor region. In conclusion, this research presents a promising AIE probe for the real-time detection of breast cancer.