Aggregation-Induced Emission Luminogen Assisted Self-Assembly\nand Morphology Transition of Amphiphilic Glycopolypeptide with Bioimaging\nApplication

Abstract

Recently, fluorescent\nmacromolecules with AIE effect have attracted\nconsiderable attentions due to their remarkable optical properties.\nIn particular, designing novel tetraphenylethylene (TPE)-based bioconjugates\nto construct various self-assembled nanostructures and to expand the\napplications have aroused great interests. Herein, we report the self-assembly\nof TPE-based amphiphilic glycopolypeptide bioconjugate for bioimaging\nand tracing of live cells. The resultant amphiphilic fluorescent glycopolypeptide\nP1tM-TPE could self-assemble into different nanostructures, including\nvesicles, spindles and porous nanosheets, which mainly depends on\nthe water fraction in DMSO/water mixture. At the same time, the vesicles\ncan transform to spindles when increasing the water fractions. Both\nthe vesicles and spindles are prone to be effectively internalized\nby macrophages, and all of them performed outstanding intracellular\nfluorescent retention properties. As far as we know, this is the first\nreport on self-assembly and applications of glycopolypeptide–TPE\nbioconjugate, which will deepen our understanding on the self-assembly\nmechanism of TPE-based bioconjugates and provide a new way for fabricating\nfunctional fluorescent materials to monitor various biological processes.