Direct visualization and real-time monitoring of dissipative self-assembly by synchronously coupled aggregation-induced emission

Dissipative self-assembly is a chemical process ubiquitous in and essential to living systems. Its dynamic nature makes it quite appealing to directly visualize and monitor in real-time, thus facilitating the understanding of this phenomenon. Herein, we have demonstrated for the first time a dissipative self-assembling system that in situ exhibits intrinsic fluorescence only in the assembly state by the employment of AIEgens, enabling its direct visualization and real-time monitoring using fluorescence microscopy and spectroscopy, respectively. Fluorescence assay, as a non-invasive and real-time monitoring technique with high sensitivity and resolution, represents a privileged way to disclose the kinetics of dissipative systems, which is on demand on account of their dynamic feature. Furthermore, transient Forster resonance energy transfer was validated as a proof-of-principle function and also to afford dual-channel monitoring.