Work

Facile Engineering of a Rosin‐Derived Natural Electron Acceptor toward Twisted Intramolecular Charge Transfer‐Active BioAIE Materials with Dual Functionality

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: With the deepening of sustainable development strategies, the monotonous skeletal structure and poor renewability of traditional petroleum‐based aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) materials have constrained their further advancements. In contrast, natural biomass‐derived materials have demonstrated tremendous potential due to their inherent renewability, superior biocompatibility, and unique structural skeletons. This study proposes a rational molecular design strategy to produce rosin‐derived dehydroabietic acid‐quinoxaline (DAQx) as a natural electron acceptor, and triphenylamine is incorporated as an electron donor to construct a donor–acceptor (D–A) type structure. This approach develops biomass‐based aggregation‐induced emission (BioAIE) materials with twisted intramolecular charge transfer characteristics. By adjusting the conjugation extent and electron‐withdrawing capability of the DAQx skeleton, dynamic optimization of photophysical properties is achieved. The results indicate that the modified D–A‐type BioAIE materials not only exhibit remarkable solvent stimuli‐responsive behavior, enabling dynamic encryption‐decryption, but also realize precisely targeted imaging of subcellular organelles, benefiting from the inherent biocompatibility of the natural DAQx skeleton. This work provides a novel strategy for designing high‐performance BioAIE materials based on natural rosin‐based electron acceptor, while expanding the application potential of biomass‐based luminescent materials in intelligent anti‐counterfeiting and bioimaging fields, offering new insights for the high‐value utilization of rosin.

Source: Advanced Functional Materials

DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202508618