Polymerization boosting cascade energy transfer based on opened glucopyranosyl β-cyclodextrin.

An injectable polysaccharide supramolecular hydrogel was successfully fabricated from opened D-glucopyranosyl β-cyclodextrin with four aldehyde groups (ACD) cross-linked with biomacromolecule chitosan (CS), which was not only beneficial to the clustering-triggered emission of CS with high quantum yield (32.25%), but also could co-assemble with a first stage acceptor triphenylamine derivative (TPA) and encapsulate Cyanine 5 (Cy5) or Nile blue (NiB) achieving supramolecular cascade energy transfer from the cross-linked polymer to the dyes, leading to fluorescence emission at 673 nm or 680 nm, and could be further applied in cell imaging.