A multifunctional quinoxalin-based AIEgen used for fluorescent thermo-sensing and image-guided photodynamic therapy

[Display omitted] •A novel AIE molecule was facilely synthesized through a single-step reaction with commercially available materials.•The D-π-A structure endows the AIE molecule with TICT characteristic, making it a reversible fluorescent thermometer.•The AIE molecule exhibited good biocompatibility.•The AIE molecule can be used as a probe for lipid droplets-specific imaging and a photosensitizer to kill cancer cells. Luminogens with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristic drew extraordinary attention owing to their excellent luminescence properties in aggregated state or solid state, which showed wide application prospect in chemical sensing, bioimaging, lighting material and display material. In this work, a novel AIE molecule of (2,3-bis(4-(dimethylamino)phenyl)quinoxalin-6-yl)(phenyl)methanone (designated as LD-red) was facilely synthesized through a single-step reaction with commercially available materials. Based on its intrinsic twisted intramolecular charge transfer (TICT) characteristic, LD-red was successfully utilized as a reversible fluorescent thermometer. More importantly, LD-red exhibited good biocompatibility, which not only can be used as a probe for lipid droplets-specific imaging, but also can work as a promising photosensitizer to kill cancer cells through generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) upon white light irradiation. LD-red enriches the kinds of AIEgens and, more importantly, this work provides a new strategy for constructing multifunctional AIEgen with TICT characteristic.