AIEE, optical-waveguide, and latent fingerprint detection behaviors of rutaecarpine, an alkaloid isolated from the medicinal herb Evodia rutaecarpa

Traditional medicinal herbs Evodia rutaecarpa has long been utilized for treatment of abdominal pain, postpartum hemorrhage, amenorrhea, dysentery, and headache in traditional medical practice. Rutaecarpine (Rut) is an indolopyridoquinazolinone alkaloid isolated from Evodia rutaecarpa having cardiovascular actions. In this work, Rut was found to be a novel luminogen having aggregation-induced emission enhancement (AIEE) property. AIEE phenomenon of Rut was studied by single crystal structure analysis, optical property, viscosity, concentration, and host-guest interaction. Interestingly, crystals of Rut under UV light showing self-waveguiding of the fluorescence. Finally, Rut was used for latent fingerprint visualization. In short, Rut provides a new direction for obtaining novel AIEE-active luminogens, and exhibiting great potential in latent fingerprint detection.