One stone, three birds: one AIEgen with three colors for fast differentiation of three pathogens

作者：Zhou, Chengcheng; Jiang, Meijuan; Du, Jian; Bai, Haotian; Shan, Guogang; Kwok, Ryan T. K.; Chau, Joe H. C.; Zhang, Jun; Lam, Jacky W. Y.; Huang, Peng; Tang, Ben Zhong^*

来源：Chemical Science, 2020, 11(18): 4730-4740.

DOI：10.1039/d0sc00256a

• AGGREGATION-INDUCED EMISSION
• CRITICALLY-ILL PATIENTS
• BACTERIA
• INFECTIONS
• PROBE
• MICROBIOLOGY
• FLUORESCENCE
• BIOPROBES
• DIAGNOSIS
• THERAPY

Visually identifying pathogens favors rapid diagnosis at the point-of-care testing level. Here, we developed a microenvironment-sensitive aggregation-induced emission luminogen (AIEgen), namely IQ-Cm, for achieving fast discrimination of Gram-negative bacteria, Gram-positive bacteria and fungi by the naked-eye. With a twisted donor-acceptor and multi-rotor structure, IQ-Cm shows twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) and AIE properties with sensitive fluorescence color response to the microenvironment of pathogens. Driven by the intrinsic structural differences of pathogens, IQ-Cm with a cationic isoquinolinium moiety and a membrane-active coumarin unit as the targeting and interacting groups selectively locates in different sites of three pathogens and gives three naked-eye discernible emission colors. Gram-negative bacteria are weak pink, Gram-positive bacteria are orange-red and fungi are bright yellow. Therefore, based on their distinctive fluorescence response, IQ-Cm can directly discriminate the three pathogens at the cell level under a fluorescence microscope. Furthermore, we demonstrated the feasibility of IQ-Cm as a visual probe for fast diagnosis of urinary tract infections, timely monitoring of hospital-acquired infection processes and fast detection of molds in the food field. This simple visualization strategy based on one single AIEgen provides a promising platform for rapid pathogen detection and point-of-care diagnosis.

• 单位
  1; 苏州大学