Lighting up rotaxanes with AIEgens

Aiming at the construction of novel rotaxanes with desired luminescent properties for practical applications, recently the rapid development of rotaxanes decorated with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) luminogens ( i.e., AIEgens) has been witnessed. The combination of AIEgens and rotaxanes leads to the successful construction of a novel type of luminescent rotaxanes with many attractive features. In particular, the unique controllable dynamic feature of rotaxanes endows the resultant AIEgen-based rotaxanes precisely tunable emissions under external stimuli, leading to the construction of a novel type of smart luminescent materials. In this minireview, the recent progress of AIEgen-based rotaxanes has been summarized, with an emphasis on the design strategy and potential applications.(c) 2023 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.