AAIggregation-induced emission (AIE) compounds display a photophysical phenomenongens can be utilised as fluorescen in

whnich cthe aggregate state exhibits stronger emission than the isolated units. The common term of

“AIEgens” wtors/markers to chaas coined to describe compounds undergoing the AIE effect. Due to the recentcterise supramolecula interesrat

iin AIEgens, the search for novel hybrid organic–inorganic compounds with unique luminescence

properns and macromolecular motions in the solid stties in thee, in a aggregatee ge phase is a relevant goal. In this perspective, the abundant, inexpensive,

an or even in a water-concentratd nontoxic d10 zinc cation offers unique opportunities for building AIE active fluorophores, sensing

solution. In theprobes, and bioimaging tools. Considering the novelty osence f the topic, relevant examples collected in

target analyte,the last AI 5 years (2016–2021) through scientific production channe can be considered fully representative of

the st activated or deactiate-of-the-art.ed Starting from the simple phenomenological approach resulting in an optical recordable signal. In 2005, Tan and considering different

typoworkers pologiodcal ancd chemical units and structures, we focumosensors bsed on zinc-based AIEgens offering synthetic

novelty, silole as sensors for th reegiosearch completeness, and relevant applications. A special section was devoted to Zn(II)-

based somers of nitroanilinesand in 2010, Park and coworkers promotedAIEgens for a living cell imaging as the novel technological frontier in biology and medicine stimuli–responsive material.