pH-Triggered 4,4′,4,4′-(Ethene-1,1,2,2-tetrayl)tetrakis(N,N-diethylaniline) with Aggregation-Induced Emission (AIE) for Ablation of Cancer Cells

It is of great significance to develop compounds that can be soluble or dispersible in water and simultaneously remain high fluorescent in aqueous media. Compounds with aggregation induced emission (AIE) have a great potential as cell imaging agents. In this paper, 4,4,4,4-(ethene-1,1,2,2-tetrayl)tetrakis(N,N-diethylaniline) (denoted as ETTDA) with AIE was designed and prepared. DSPE-PEG(-2000) (1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-(polyethylene glycol)-Folate (sodium salt)(-2000)) coated ETTDA nanoparticles (NPs) were used for treatment of four different kinds of cancer cells (HCT-116 (human colon cancer cell), A549 (human caucasian lung carcinoma), Hela (human cervical cancer cells) and A2780 (ovarian carcinoma cells)) and cytotoxicity investigation shows it is highly sensitive to Hela, moderate sensitive to A549 and A2780 but low sensitive to HCT-116. Furthermore, cell migration of ETTDA nanoparticles (NPs) on Hela shows that ETTDA NPs are capable of inhibiting the migration of Hela invitro, indicating its potential ability to interfere with the transfer of tumor invivo.