Two-color emissive AIEgens with anti-Kasha property for dual-organelle imaging and phototherapy

Despite the rapid development of probes for targeting single organelle, the construction of robust dual-organelle targeting probes with multicolor emission was rarely reported. Herein, two dual-emissive aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) with donor-π-acceptor structures were designed and synthesized, namely QT-1 and QF-2 . Both two AIEgens exhibited excitation wavelength-dependence defying the Kasha’s rule, and could stain lipid droplets (LDs) and mitochondria in blue and red fluorescence, respectively. Moreover, thanks to the near-infrared emission and abundant reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation efficiency of QT-1 , it was chosen as a photodynamic therapy agent to selectively kill cancer cells from normal cells. Upon light irradiation, an obvious decrease of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and serious change of mitochondrial shape in cells were observed, which corresponded to the efficient inhibition of tumor growth in vivo . This work afforded a promising strategy for the construction of multicolor emission by tuning anti-Kasha behaviors and expanding their application in dual-organelle targeting-based phototheranostics.