Prospects for Organic Dye Nanoparticles - Advanced Fluorescence Reporters in Chemistry and Biology - page 285

Prospects for Organic Dye Nanoparticles

Hiroshi Yao

Abstract A review of organic nanoparticles consisting of small functional dye
molecules is presented in this chapter. The study of organic dye nanoparticles does
not have a lengthy history, but there is growing scientific and technological interest
owing to their special characteristics: physicochemical properties of organic dye
nanoparticles considerably differ not only from those of individual molecules due
to the presence of van der Waals type intermolecular interactions, but also from
those of bulk crystals since the nanoparticles have a large proportion of surface
molecules. Simple and versatile synthesis strategies that have been developed and
widely applied for obtaining organic dye nanoparticles are first discussed - repre-
cipitation method and ion-association method. Next, their unique size-dependent
optical properties are introduced. More attention is paid to their novel and interest-
ing emission behavior - aggregation-induced enhanced emission (AIEE) that
closely relates to the restriction of intramolecular twisting motion. Finally, con-
cluding remarks and the future outlook of research in this area are provided.

Keywords Aggregation-induced enhanced emission (AIEE) Fluorescent organic

nanoparticles Ion-association method Organic dye nanoparticles Reprecipitation

method Restriction of intramolecular rotation Size-dependent optical properties

Contents

1 Introduction: Organic Dye Nanoparticles Exhibit Unique
Physicochemical Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
2 How to Synthesize Organic Dye Nanoparticles: Preparation Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
2.1 Reprecipitation Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
2.2 Ion-Association Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290