Lipofection with estrone-based luminophores featuring aggregation-induced emission properties

• Published in: RSC advances Vol. 1; no. 33; pp. 19643 - 19647
• Main Authors: Riebe, Steffen, Zimmermann, Alexander, Koch, Johannes, Vallet, Cecilia, Knauer, Shirley K, Sowa, Andrea, Wölper, Christoph, Voskuhl, Jens
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Royal Society of Chemistry 27-05-2020; The Royal Society of Chemistry
• Subjects: Agglomeration; Aqueous solutions; Chemistry; Crystallography; Emission; Fluorescence; Properties (attributes); Self-assembly; Steroids
• ISSN: 2046-2069; 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/d0ra03608k

In this communication we present the use of a novel class of luminophores with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) properties based on the steroid estrone. These molecules were equipped with cationic residues yielding amphiphiles suitable for lipofection. To this end, self-assembled luminescent structures were formed in aqueous media and mixed with a red-fluorescent protein expressing plasmid, yielding lipoplexes with increased emission intensity. These luminescent lipoplexes were able to efficiently transfect HeLa and HEK 293T cells and were able to be tracked due to the aggregation induced-emission properties.
A novel class of cationic amphiphiles based on estrone with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) properties is described which is able to transfect different cell lines. The AIE-effect is used to track the transfection process.