A reflection on ‘Aggregation-induced emission enhancement of a meso-trifluoromethyl BODIPY via J-aggregation’: from fundamental discovery to versatile sensing platforms

The BODIPY family of dyes enjoys great popularity for its advantageous luminsecence characteristics in solution. By contrast, most BODIPY dyes are quenched in the solid state. In rare instances, BODIPY derivatives have been found to undergo aggregation-induced emission (AIE) behavior, leading to unexpectedly red-shifted bands. In 2014, S. Choi et al. demonstrated that the 1,3,5,7-tetramethyl BODIPY derivative that bears a trifluoromethyl group at the meso position formed emissive J-aggregates, and reported their photophysical and structural characterization (S. Choi, J. Bouffard and Y. Kim, Chem. Sci., 2014, 5, 751, https://doi.org/10.1039/c3sc52495g). This commentary surveys the applications of this family of J-aggregating BODIPY dyes, and new instances of BODIPY J-aggregates that have emerged since that publication.