Assembly of Water-soluble AIE-active Fluorescent Organic Nanoparticles for Ratiometric Detection of Hypochlorite in Living Cells

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/asia.202001325

Hypochlorous acid (HOCl) plays a crucial role in many physiological processes and is widely used as bleach, deodorant and fungicide. In this work, we designed an amphiphilic hydrazone fluorescent molecule THG-1 containing hydrophilic sugar units and hydro

Full text of DOI:10.1002/asia.202001325

CHEMISTRY
AN ASIAN JOURNAL
www.chemasianj.org
Accepted Article
Title: Assembly of water-soluble AIE-active fluorescent organic
nanoparticles for ratiometric detection of hypochlorite in living
cells
Authors: Yi-chen Liu, Wei Du, Guang-jian Liu, Wei Zhou, Xiao-jie Gao,
and Guo-wen Xing
This manuscript has been accepted after peer review and appears as an
Accepted Article online prior to editing, proofing, and formal publication
of the final Version of Record (VoR). This work is currently citable by
using the Digital Object Identifier (DOI) given below. The VoR will be
published online in Early View as soon as possible and may be different
to this Accepted Article as a result of editing. Readers should obtain
the VoR from the journal website shown below when it is published
to ensure accuracy of information. The authors are responsible for the
content of this Accepted Article.
To be cited as: Chem. Asian J. 10.1002/asia.202001325
Link to VoR: https://doi.org/10.1002/asia.202001325
A Journal of
A sister journal of Angewandte Chemie
and Chemistry – A European Journal

10.1002/asia.202001325
Chemistry - An Asian Journal
COMMUNICATION
Assembly of water-soluble AIE-active fluorescent organic
nanoparticles for ratiometric detection of hypochlorite in living
cells
Yi-chen Liu, Wei Du, Guang-jian Liu, Wei Zhou, Xiao-jie Gao, Guo-wen Xing*[a]
[a]
Y.-c. Liu, W. Du, Dr. G.-j. Liu, W. Zhou, X.-j. Gao, Prof. G.-w. Xing
College of Chemistry
Beijing Normal University
Beijing100875 (P. R. China)
E-mail: gwxing@bnu.edu.cn
Supporting information for this article is given via a link at the end of the document.
Abstract: Hypochlorous acid (HOCl) plays a crucial role in many
physiological processes and is widely used as bleach, deodorant and
fungicide. In this work, we designed an amphiphilic hydrazone
fluorescent molecule THG-1 containing hydrophilic sugar units and
hydrophobic tetraphenylethylene unit for ratiometric detection of HOCl
with high sensitivity and excellent selectivity based on HOCl-triggered
hydrolyzation reaction and aggregation-induced emission (AIE) effect.
The detection mechanism was verified by liquid chromatograph mass
spectrometry experiments and scanning electron microscope (SEM)
tests. Contrast experiments revealed that the numbers of lactose unit
and hydrazone linker were essential for assembly of THG-1 and
detection of HOCl. In addition, THG-1 was successfully used for
imaging of exogenous and endogenous HOCl in living cells.
ratiometric fluorescent probes could give more accurate
quantitative results based on the ratio of fluorescence intensities
at different wavelengths.[6] Developing water-soluble ratiometric
fluorescent probes for quantifying HOCl is still an important topic
of research in the field of detection.[7]
In recent years, AIE materials, which are different from
aggregation-induced quenching (ACQ) materials, have attracted
extensive attention of scientists for their advantages of low
background, high signal-to-noise ratio, high quantum yield, good
stability.[8] Based on AIE effect, many fluorescence probes with
high sensitivity and selectivity have been designed for detection
of proteins, peptides, small biological molecules, and so on.[9]
Recently, our group synthesized several sugar-substituted AIE-
active fluorescent organic probes for successfully detection of
H2O2, sialidases, heparin and protopanoxadiol.[10]
As a kind of reactive oxygen species (ROS), hypochlorous acid or
hypochlorite plays a crucial role in our life and is widely used as
bleach, deodorant and fungicide.[1] Endogenous hypochlorite
produced from chloride ions and hydrogen peroxide in
myeloperoxidase-catalyzed reactions under normal conditions,
could kill a variety of pathogens. However, high concentration of
hypochlorite in biological systems can cause tissue damage and
diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis,
kidney disease and cancer.[2] Up to now, the safe concentration
of HOCl in different tissues and organs remains unclear.
Therefore, developing effective methods to realize visual
detection and rapid quantification of HOCl in living cells is
essential for physiological studies and some disease diagnosis.
In the past decades, several methods have been reported for
selective detection of hypochlorite, mainly including iodometric
On the basis of our previous works, we envisioned that the
HOCl-specific ratiometric or turn-on probes should be designed
by coupling hydrophobic AIE fluorophores with hydrophilic groups
via specific linkers which could be broken by HOCl (Scheme 1).
method,
potentiometric
analysis,
coulometric
titration,
polarography method.[3] Indeed, for most of them, there are
disadvantages of expensive detecting cost and tedious manual
operation, which limit the practical applications to some extent.
Until now, a variety of fluorescent probes with good sensitivity and
high selectivity have been developed for specific detection of
HOCl and other active oxides.[4] For instance, Zhang’s group
reported a lysosome-targeting hydrophobic probe Lyso-SiR-2S,
which was successfully used for detection of endogenous HOCl
in vivo during gentamicin (GEN)-induced acute renal injury in mice
based on fluorescent intensities.[5] Compared to these “turn-on”
fluorescent probes which were usually hard to quantify precisely,
Scheme 1. Design of THG-1 for specific detection of HOCl.
1
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

10.1002/asia.202001325
Chemistry - An Asian Journal
COMMUNICATION
O
HO
Cl
N
HN
O
N
N
N
NH2
Ac2O,
FeCl3
O
N
N
O
BF3OEt2
28.
CH3CH2OH
NH2NH2
O
O
Cl
NaN3
O
N3
O
R
R1 OAc
R
OH
1
R1
R1
R1
O
Cu+
8.3
5
8%
97
0%
92.
.4%
%
O
7
2
4
6
3
O
N
H
N
N
O
N
N
O
O
Br
Br
N
N
N
N
H
N
O
O
O
OH
O
OH
7
O
O
O
HCl
HO
NBS
32.2%
DMSO
Zn TiCl4
36
HO
6
O
NaHC
OH
3
43.8%
O
O
.3%
OH
O
O
.9%
28
O
OH
OH
O
HO
HO
HO
HO
O
O
O
O
O
THG-1
8a
9a
10a
OH
11a
O
HO
OH
OAc
OH
O
HO
HO
AcO
OAc
OAc
O
O
O
O
O
R1=
R=
HO
OAc
OAc
OH
OH
OAc
Scheme 2. Synthetic routes to THG-1.
That is, once HOCl caused the removal of the solubilization effect
of hydrophilic groups, the enhancement of aggregation degree of
hydrophobic AIE fluorescent cores may restore their fluorescence
intensities due to the restriction of intramolecular motions, thereby
realizing the detection of HOCl. Meanwhile, if HOCl-triggered
bond cleavage reactions can simultaneously cause the changes
of electron distributions of AIE fluorophores, the fluorescent
wavelengths should also be changed as well. Thus, in this work,
we designed a novel lactosyl-decorated tetraphenylethylene
derivative (THG-1) with hydrazone units as connecting linkers and
HOCl recognition sites for HOCl detection (Scheme 1). Lactosyl
group makes probe THG-1 have good water solubility.[11] THG-1
could self-assemble to form water-soluble fluorescent organic
nanoparticles (FONs) in aqueous solution. To our delight, the
fluorescence emission of THG-1 in aqueous solution has a
significant blue shift after incubation with HOCl, and the emission
color of THG-1 changes from yellow to blue, indicating that THG-
1 is a ratiometric AIE-active fluorescent probe for HOCl detection.
To the best of our knowledge, THG-1 is the first water-soluble
ratiometric AIE-acitive fluorescent organic probe to be assembled
as FONs for specific sensing of HOCl (Table S1).
nearly linear relationship with a certain concentration range of
HOCl (4-12 μM) with the detection limit of 0.31 μM (3σ/k),
suggesting that THG-1 could be used for quantitative detection of
HOCl (Figure 1b). When 30 equiv. of HOCl was added, the ratio
value (I467/I554) could reach the maximum of about 3. The above
results demonstrated that THG-1 possessed high sensitivity to
HOCl and had the potential for real-time detection of HOCl.
Figure 1. (a) Fluorescence spectra of probe THG-1 upon addition of HOCl (0 –
30 equiv.) and (b) Fluorescence intensity ratio (I467/I554) changes of THG-1 upon
addition of HOCl (0 – 30 equiv.). Conditions: [THG-1] = 1.5 µM in PBS (pH 7.4,
10 mM), λex = 300 nm. (The results are the mean standard deviation of three
separate measurements.)
The synthetic route of THG-1 was shown in Scheme 2. The
hydrophilic lactosyl moiety (6) was firstly prepared by five-step
sugar-related reactions. Then, we synthesized the hydrophobic
tetraphenylethylene module (11a) containing electron-donating
methoxyl group and electron-withdrawing aldehyde group by
using McMurry reaction and Kornblum oxidation from 4,4'-
dimethoxybenzophenone and 4,4'-dimethylbenzophenone as
starting materials. THG-1 was obtained by coupling the
hydrophobic and hydrophilic modules (11a, 6) through aldimine
condensation under acidic conditions. The chemical structures of
1
THG-1 and synthetic intermediates were confirmed by using H
NMR, 13C NMR and HRMS (see ESI).
Next, the optical properties of THG-1 were measured under
physiological conditions (PBS, pH 7.4, 10 mM). As shown in
Figure S1, THG-1 (1.5 µM) has two absorption peaks at around
300 nm and 360 nm. The absorption of both peaks of THG-1
decreased with increasing HOCl, indicating that THG-1 should
react with HOCl in aqueous solution. To examine the sensitivity of
THG-1 to HOCl, titration of HOCl at low concentrations was
conducted. Upon addition of HOCl, the initial fluorescence
intensity of THG-1 at 554 nm decreased dramatically and the
fluorescence intensity at 467 nm enhanced gradually (Figure 1a).
The reaction between THG-1 and HOCl could be completed
within 10 minutes (Figure S2). Meanwhile, the ratio of the
fluorescence intensity at 467 nm to that at 554 nm (I467/I554) has a
Figure 2. Fluorescence intensity ratios of THG-1 (I467/I554) before and after
incubation with various ROS and RNS. Conditions: [THG-1] = 1.5 µM, [ClO-] =
30 µM, [other ROS] = 30 µM, [RNS] = 30 µM, PBS (pH 7.4, 10 mM), λex = 300
nm. (The results are the mean standard deviation of three separate
measurements.)
2
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

10.1002/asia.202001325
Chemistry - An Asian Journal
COMMUNICATION
To evaluate the stability of probe THG-1, the effect of pH
changes on THG-1 to HOCl over a wide pH range from 3–11 was
examined. As shown in Figure S3, the emission ratio of probe
exhibited a stable response to HOCl over pH range from 6-8.
Additionally, THG-1 was shown to have excellent photostability
during the test, which was crucial for long-time detection.
To investigate the selectivity of THG-1 to HOCl, the
fluorescence response of probe THG-1 to various relevant
biological species including metal ions, reactive oxygen species
(ROS), and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) were evaluated. As
shown in Figure 2, nearly no emission intensity ratio changes
were observed in the presence of the interfering species.
Although Cu2+ and ONOO- could inhibit the fluorescence intensity
of THG-1, the emission intensity ratio was not changed
significantly (Figure S4). Thus, THG-1 could detect HOCl
selectively.
To clarify the detection mechanisms, several supplementary
experiments were conducted. Firstly, we used liquid
chromatograph mass spectrometry (LC-MS) to study the reaction
between THG-1 and HOCl. From the LC-MS of THG-1, we can
see a main peak at m/z = 1431.6 corresponding to [THG-1 + H]+.
While, after incubated with HOCl, the high abundance of the ion
at 470.8 (corresponding to [11a + Na]+) illustrated that the imino
groups of THG-1 were hydrolyzed by HOCl to aldehyde groups,
and compound 11a was correspondingly formed (Figure S5).
According to previous studies,[12] a reasonable mechanism of the
reaction between THG-1 and HOCl was presented in Scheme 3.
ClO- attacked the imino group of THG-1, breaking the hydrazone
unit, followed by the nucleophilic attack of H2O, producing the
product 11a. The process could be promoted by electron donating
effect of the lone pair electrons on the oxygen atom of methoxy
group.
Secondly, the changes of the aggregation degree of the probe
before and after addition of HOCl were characterized by scanning
electron microscope (SEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS).
As shown in Figure 3a and Figure 3c, spherical nanoparticles with
diameters of about 260 nm and about 390 nm could be clearly
observed, corresponding to THG-1 and the hydrolized product
11a respectively. In addition, the results determined by DLS were
well consistent with the data obtained by SEM (Figure 3b and
Figure 3d). These results confirmed that the lactose-modified
tetraphenylethylene derivative THG-1 itself could self-assemble
to form FONs in aqueous solution, and the removal of water-
soluble lactose unit could further decrease the solubility of the
probe and increase the aggregation degree of the probe. The
increase of the aggregation degree could make the fluorescence
intensities and wavelengths change dramatically.
To evaluate the applicability of THG-1 to HOCl detection, we
tried to employ THG-1 to image intracellular OCl-. Firstly, a
standard MTT assay in HepG2 cells were conducted and the
results showed that more than 80% of the cells remained viable
even though 10 µM THG-1 was incubated for 24 h (Figure S7),
indicating the low cytotoxicity of THG-1. Then, HepG2 cells were
incubated with THG-1 (1.5µM) at 37℃ for 60 min. Fluorescence
signal was observed in the green channel using confocal laser
scanning microscope (CLSM), and THG-1 showed good against
photobleaching features (Figure S8). When cells were cultured
with exogenous HOCl for 30 min, it could be observed that the
fluorescence signal from the blue channel was increased, and the
fluorescence signal from the green channel was weakened. The
ratio value of these two emission channels (blue channel/green
channel) changed significantly (Figure S9), indicating that THG-1
could be used as a ratiometric fluorescent probe to detect
exogenous HOCl at cellular level. In addition, similar results were
obtained in LO2 cells, and the mean fluorescence intensity of
THG-1 in HepG2 cells was 1.3 times higher than that in LO2 cells
(Figure S9, S10), which may be ascribed to the differences of
asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGP-R) expression between
normal and tumor liver cells.[13]
Next, we investigated whether THG-1 could be used to detect
endogenous HOCl in live cells. Then, HepG2 cells were incubated
with lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 1 μg/ml) which could
R
O
O
R
R
O
O
R
R
O
O
R
H
NH
HN
NH
HN
NH
HN
N
N
N
N
N
NH
OCl
OCl
HOCl
O
O
O
O
O
O
-
O
THG-1
NH2
R
N
R
N
O
R
N
O
H
H
OCl
NH
NH
OCl
H2O
O
O
O
-HOCl
H
repeat
~
H
O
O
O
O
O
O
OH
O
11a
OH
O
HO
HO
O
O
N
N
N
HO
R=
OH
OH
Scheme 3. Possible mechanism of the reaction between THG-1 and HOCl.
Thirdly, we synthesized a control molecule THG-2 to explore
the effect of the number of hydrophilic lactose unit on the
aggregation degree of the probe and the sensitivity to HOCl.
Using similar steps to synthesize THG-1, THG-2 was synthesized
with only one lactose unit and one hydrazone linker (Scheme S2).
As expected, the size of the particles formed by THG-2 in
aqueous solution is large and irregular (Figure S6). Meanwhile,
the fluorescence background of THG-2 was strong and could not
be used for detection of HOCl sensitively. These results indicated
that the numbers of lactose unit and hydrazone linker played a
crucial role in improving the water solubility and detection
selectivity of probes.
Figure 3. (a) The SEM images and (b) DLS histograms of THG-1. (c) The SEM
images and (d) DLS histograms of THG-1 upon addition of HOCl.
3
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

10.1002/asia.202001325
Chemistry - An Asian Journal
COMMUNICATION
Figure 4. Confocal fluorescence images of HepG2 cells incubated with THG-1 and LPS. (a) HepG2 cells were directly incubated with 1.5 μM THG-1 for 60 min; (b)
HepG2 cells were sequentially incubated with LPS (1 μg/ml, 3 h) and THG-1 (1.5 μM, 60 min). Blue channel: λ=425–475 nm; green channel: λ=500–550 nm.
induce cellular apoptosis and release ROS, including HOCl.[14]
After three hours, the stimulated cells were then incubated with
THG-1 (1.5 μM). Similar fluorescence signals were also observed
with CLSM (Figure 4), which should be ascribed to the generation
of HOCl induced by LPS since there was almost no fluorescence
signal at blue channel in the control experiment without LPS.
These results indicated that THG-1 could be used to image both
exogenous and endogenous HOCl in live cells sensitively.
In summary, we developed a selective water-soluble AIE-active
ratiometric fluorescent probe THG-1 to be assembled as FONs
for detection of HOCl. Upon addition of HOCl, the ratio of
fluorescence intensities at 467 and 554 nm changed significantly.
THG-1 showed excellent selectivity toward HOCl over other ROS
and cations. We also compared the assembly behavior of THG-2
and THG-1, and found that THG-1, which was modified by two
lactose units, showed better water solubility and was more
sensitive to HOCl. More importantly, THG-1 could be applied to
capture endogenous HOCl generated in living cells.
[2]
a) J. Winter, M. Ilbert, P. C. Graf, D. Ozcelik, U. Jakob, Cell. 2008, 135,
691-701; b) E. Hidalgo, R. Bartolome, C. Dominguez, Chem-Biol. Interact.
2002, 139, 265-282; c) D. I. Pattison, M. J. Davies, Biochemistry. 2006,
45, 8152-8162; d) Y. W. Yap, M. Whiteman, N. S. Cheung, Cellular
Signalling. 2007, 19, 219-228; e) R. P. Wu, T. Hayashi, H. B. Cottam, G.
Jin, S. Yao, C. C. Wu, M. D. Rosenbach, M. Corr, R. B. Schwab, D. A.
Carson, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 2010, 107, 7479-7484.
a) S. Thiagarajan, Z.-Y. Wu and S.-M. Chen, J. Electroanal. Chem. 2011,
661, 322-328; b) J. B. Claver, M. C. V. Miron, L. F. C-Vallvey, Anal. Chim.
Acta. 2004, 522, 267-273; c) Y.-C. Yang, H.-H. Lu, W.-T. Wang, I. Liau,
Anal. Chem. 2011, 83, 8267-8372; d) L. M. Magalhaes, M. A. Segundo,
S. Reis, J. L. F. C. Lima, J. M. Estela, V. Cerda, Anal. Chem. 2007, 79,
3933-3939; e) J. F. Sun, R. Liu, J. J. Tang, Z. M. Zhang, X. X. Zhou, J.
F. Liu, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces. 2015, 7, 16730-16737; f) L. T. Molina,
M. J. Molina, J Phys Chem. 1978, 22, 2410-2414; g) H.-J. C. Chen, S.-
W. Row, C.-L. Hong, Chem. Res. Toxicol. 2002, 15, 262-268; h) L.
Guerra, C. Pereira, P. B. Andrade, M. A. Rodrigues, F. Ferreres, P. G. D.
Pinho, R. M. Seabra, P. Valentao, J. Agric. Food Chem. 2008, 56, 8185-
8194.
[3]
[4]
a) Y. Koide, Y. Urano, K. Hanaoka, T. Terai, T. Nagano, J. Am. Chem.
Soc. 2011, 133, 5680-5682; b) Y. Zhou, J.-Y. Li, K.H. Chu, K. Liu, C. Yao,
J.-Y. Li, Chem. Commun. 2012, 48, 4677-4679; c) Z. Lou, P. Li, Q. Pan,
K. Han, Chem. Commun. 2013, 49, 2445-2447; d) L. Yuan, W. Lin, Y.
Yang, H. Chen, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 1200-1211; e) H. Xiao, K.
Xin, H. Dou, G. Yin, Y. Quan, R. Wang, Chem. Commun. 2015, 51, 1442-
1445.
Acknowledgements
The project was financially supported by National Natural Science
Foundation of China (21977014, 21907008), Beijing Natural
Science Foundation (2192025).
[5]
[6]
[7]
J. P. Wang, D. Cheng, L. M. Zhu, P. Wang, H.-W. Liu, M. Chen, L. Yuan,
X.-B. Zhang, Chem. Commun. 2019, 55, 10916-10919.
K. E. Sapsford, L. Berti, I. L. Medintz, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2006, 45,
4562-4588.
a) T. Yudhistira, S.V. Mulay, Y. Kim, M. B. Halle, D. G. Churchill, Chem.
Asian J. 2019, 14, 3048-3084; b) X. Chen, X. Tian, I. Shin, J. Yoon, Chem.
Soc. Rev. 2011, 40, 4783-4804; c) H. Feng, Q. T. Meng, Y. Wang, C. C.
Duan, C. P. Wang, H. M. Jia, Z. Q. Zhang, R. Zhang, Chem. Asian J.
2018, 13, 2611-2618; d) Q. Xu, K.-A. Lee, S. Lee, K. M. Lee, W.-J. Lee,
J. Yoon, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 9944-9949.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
[8]
[9]
a) J. Luo, Z. Xie, J. W. Y. Lam, L. Cheng, H. Chen, C. Qiu, H. S. Kwok,
X. Zhan, Y. Liu, D. Zhu, B. Z. Tang, Chem. Commun. 2001, 1740-1741;
b) Y. Hong, J. W. Y. Lam, B. Z. Tang, Chem. Soc. Rev. 2011, 40, 5361-
5388.
Keywords: aggregation-induced emission • fluorescent probe •
ratiometric detection • hypochlorous acid • fluorescence imaging
[1]
a) W.-L. Wu, H.-L. Ma, L.-L. Xi, M.-F. Huang, K.-M. Wang, J. Y. Miao and
B.-X. Zhao, Talanta. 2019, 194, 308-313; b) W. A. Rutala, D. J. Weber,
Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 1997, 10, 597-610; c) M. J. Gray, W.-Y. Wholey, B.
W. Parker, M. Kim, U. Jakob, J. Biol. Chem. 2013, 288, 13789-13798.
a) J. Mei, Y. Hong, W.Y.J. Lam, A. Qin, Y. Tang, B. Z. Tang, Adv. Mater.
2014, 26, 5429-5479; b) J. Mei, N. L. C. Leung, R. T. K. Kwok, J. W. Y.
Lam, B. Z. Tang, Chem. Rev. 2015, 115, 11718-11940.
[10] a) G.-J. Liu, Z. Long, H.-J. Lv, C.-Y. Li, G.-W. Xing, Chem. Commun.
2016, 52, 10233-10236; b) G.-J. Liu, B. H. Wang, Y. Zhang, G.-W. Xing,
4
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

10.1002/asia.202001325
Chemistry - An Asian Journal
COMMUNICATION
X. L. Yang, S. Wang, Chem. Commun. 2018, 54, 10691-10694; c) Z.-W.
Ning, S.-Z. Wu, G.-J. Liu, Y.-M. Ji, L.-Y. Jia, X.-X. Niu, R.-F. Ma, Y. Zhang,
G.-W. Xing, Chem. Asian J. 2019, 14, 2220-2224; d) Y.-M. Ji, G.-J. Liu,
C.-Y. Li, Y.-C. Liu, M. Hou, G.-W. Xing, Chem. Asian J. 2019, 14, 3295-
3300; e) L.-Y. Jia, G.-J. Liu, Y.-M. Ji, Y. Zhang, G.-W. Xing,
ChemNanoMat. 2020, 6, 368-372.
[11] a) M. Kamiya, K. Johnsson, Anal. Chem. 2010, 82, 6472-6479; b) L.-Y.
Niu, Y.-S. Guan, Y.-Z. Chen, L.-Z. Wu, C.-H. Tung, Q.-Z. Yang, J. Am.
Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 18928-18931.
[12] S. Goswami, K. Aich, S. Das, B. Pakhira, K. Ghoshal, C. K. Quah, M.
Bhattacharyya, H.-K. Fun, S. Sarkar, Chem. Asian J. 2015, 10, 694-700.
[13]
Y.Y. Gao, H. Chen, Y.Y. Zhou, L.T. Wang, Y.L. Hou, X.H. Xia, Y. Ding,
ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces. 2017, 9, 31458−31468
[14] D. L. Shi, S. Q. Chen, B. Dong, Y. H. Zhang, C. Q. Sheng, T. D. James,
Y. Guo, Chem. Sci. 2019, 10, 3715-3722.
5
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

10.1002/asia.202001325
Chemistry - An Asian Journal
COMMUNICATION
Entry for the Table of Contents
Water-soluble AIE-active fluorescent organic nanoparticles THG-1 were synthesized and utilized for detection of exogenous and
endogenous HOCl in living cells.
6
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.