Near‐Infrared AIE Dots with Chemiluminescence for Deep‐Tissue Imaging

Near‐infrared (NIR) chemiluminescence (CL) emission is highly favorable for deep‐tissue imaging, but chemically conjugated NIR CL emitters with the aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) property for biotechnology are seldom reported. Herein, an AIE‐active NIR CL emitter, TBL, is synthesized by conjugating luminol unit with electron‐accepting benzothiadiazole and an electron‐donating triphenylamine, and subsequently TBL dots are prepared by using F127 as the surfactant. The CL emission of TBL dots can last continuously for over 60 min and can be employed for quantitative (in vitro) and qualitative (in vivo) detection of 1O2. Strikingly, the NIR CL emission can penetrate through tissues with a total thickness of over 3 cm, exhibiting significantly better performance than NIR fluorescence emission and blue CL emission. Moreover, the successful differentiation of tumor and normal tissues by TBL‐based CL imaging in vivo also paves the way for CL‐guided cancer diagnosis and surgery. Near‐infrared chemiluminescence (NIR CL): A novel aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) luminogen named TBL is designed and the NIR CL emission of TBL dots can penetrate through 3 cm‐thick pork ham, which is much better than NIR fluorescence and blue CL emission. Moreover, the successful differentiation of tumor and normal tissue makes this system promising for CL‐guided tumor diagnosis and surgery.