In recent years, fluorescent functional materials with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) properties have evolved to be one of the most attractive topics within chemistry and materials science. In particular, discrete TPE-based metallacycles or metallacages through coordination-driven self-assembly have proven to be novel scaffolds to construct various fluorescent materials with light-emitting characteristics. Herein, we report the preparation of a new family of discrete, TPE-based supra-amphiphilic metallacycles decorated with three PNIPAAM arms through combination of an exo-functionalization strategy and post-assembly polymerization. The obtained supra-amphiphilic organometallic species could spontaneously self-assemble into fluorescent nanoparticles in water. Moreover, by taking advantages of both AIE property and good biocompatibility of the obtained TPE-based supra-amphiphilic metallosupramolecular structure, its potential application in cell imaging was investigated.
