Applications of Aggregation-Induced Emission Materials in Biotechnology

A series of biotechnological applications of aggregation-induced emission (AIE) materials for the quantitation of nucleic acid and proteins, gel visualization, real-time monitoring of conformational transition of biomolecules, live cell imaging, and long-term cell tracing are reported. Compared with conventional luminescent materials, these materials are more attractive because of their facile synthesis, ready functionalization, good photostability, high fluorescence quantum yields, and biocompatibility.