Synthesis of an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) dye with pH-sensitivity based on tetraphenylethylene-pyridine for fluorescent nanoparticles and its applications in bioimaging and in vitro anti-tumor effect

In this contribution, a novel AIE monomers 2-(4-styrylphenyl)- 1,2-diphenylvinyl)styryl)pyridine (SDVPY) with smart fluorescent pH-sensitivity basing on tetraphenylethylene-pyridine were successfully synthesized for the first time, subsequently, a series of amphiphilic copolymers PEG-PY were achieved by reversible additionfragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization of SDVPY and poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (PEGMA), which would self-assemble in water solution to form core-shell nanoparticles (PEG-PY FONs) with about 150 nm diameter. The PEG-PY FONs showed obvious fluorescence response to Fe3+, HCO3- and CO32- ions in aqueous solution owing to their smart pH-sensitivity and AIE characteristics, and their maximum emission wavelength could reversibly change from 525 nm to 624 nm. The as-prepared PEG-PY FONs showed also prospective application in cells imaging with the variable fluorescence for different pH cells micro-environment. When PEG-PY copolymers self-assembled with the anti-tumor drug paclitaxel (PTX), the obtained PY-PTX FONs could effectively deliver and release PTX with pH-sensitivity, and could be easily internalized by A549 cells and located at the cytoplasm with high cytotoxicity, which was further confirmed by the Calcein-AM/PI staining of dead and alive A549 cells. Moreover, the flow cytometry results indicated that the PY-PTX FONs could obviously induce the apoptosis of A549 cells, which further showed the great potential of PY-PTX FONs in the application of tumors therapy.