Probing the Intrachain and Interchain Effects on the Fluorescence Behavior of Pentiptycene-Derived Oligo(p-phenyleneethynylene)s

Rapid Synthesis of Chiral Figure-Eight Macrocycles Using a Preorganized Natural Product-Based Scaffold

Chiral D2 -symmetric figure-eight shaped macrocycles are promising scaffolds for amplifying the chiroptical properties of π-conjugated systems. By harnessing the inherent and adaptable conformational dynamics of a chiral C2 -symmetric bispyrrolidinoindoline (BPI) manifold, we developed an enantio-divergent modular synthetic platform to rapidly generate a diverse range of chiral macrocycles, spanning from 14- to 66-membered rings, eliminating the need for optical resolution. Notably, a 32-membered figure-eight macrocycle showed excellent circularly polarized luminescence (CPL: |glum |=1.1×10-2 ) complemented by a robust emission quantum yield (Φfl =0.74), to achieve outstanding CPL brightness (BCPL : ϵ×Φfl ×|glum |/2=480). Using quadruple Sonogashira couplings, this versatile synthetic platform enables precise adjustments of the angle, distance, and length among intersecting π-conjugated chromophores. Our synthetic strategy offers a streamlined and systematic approach to significantly enhance BCPL values for a variety of chiral D2 -symmetric figure-eight macrocycles.

Supramolecular glasses with color-tunable circularly polarized afterglow through evaporation-induced self-assembly of chiral metal-organic complexes

The fabrication of chiral molecules into macroscopic systems has many valuable applications, especially in the fields of optical displays, data encryption, information storage, and so on. Here, we design and prepare a serious of supramolecular glasses (SGs) based on Zn-L-Histidine complexes, via an evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) strategy. Metal-ligand interactions between the zinc(II) ion and chiral L-Histidine endow the SGs with interesting circularly polarized afterglow (CPA). Multicolored CPA emissions from blue to red with dissymmetry factor as high as 9.5 × 10^-3 and excited-state lifetime up to 356.7 ms are achieved under ambient conditions. Therefore, this work not only communicates the bulk SGs with wide-tunable afterglow and large circular polarization, but also provides an EISA method for the macroscopic self-assembly of chiral metal-organic hybrids toward photonic applications.

A Molecular Rotor That Probes the Helical Inversion of Stiff-Stilbene

Probing the inversion kinetics of a molecular helix is inherently a challenging task. We demonstrate herein that a fast-rotating pentiptycene component could function as an external NMR probe to afford the kinetic information on the inversion of a neighboring helical stiff-stilbene unit.

Excitation-Wavelength-Dependent Light-Induced Electron Transfer and Twisted Intramolecular Charge Transfer in N,N-Bis(4'-tert-butylbiphenyl-4-yl)aniline Functionalized Borondipyrromethenes

A series of bis(4'-tert-butylbiphenyl-4-yl)aniline (BBA) functionalized borondipyrromethene (BODIPY) dyads, Dyads 1-3, containing the BBA group tethered to BODIPY moiety either directly or through a phenyl or alkynyl phenyl spacers are synthesized, and the light-mediated charge transfer within the chromophores has been systematically investigated. The crystal structure of Dyad-1 showed a tilt of 44.2° between the BODIPY and BBA molecular planes and intermolecular C-H···π interactions with these moieties. Cyclic voltammetric and computational studies showed that the BBA moiety can act as the electron donor (D) and BODIPY as the electron acceptor (A) and the optical absorption studies revealed that an increase in the conjugation of the linker from Dyad-1 to Dyad-2 resulted in bathochromic shifts. Steady-state fluorescence studies involving photoexcitation of the BBA moiety at 326 nm resulted in the decrease in fluorescence intensity of the BBA, indicating the possibility of sequential occurrence of faster photoinduced energy transfer (PEnT) followed by the photoinduced electron transfer (PET) or solely PET within the dyads, and the driving forces of the charge separation were calculated to be exothermic in all of the employed solvents. Parallel time-resolved fluorescence experiments involving the excitation of BBA moiety also supported the occurrence of charge separation in these dyads. Interestingly, excitation of the BODIPY moiety of Dyad-1 and Dyad-2 at 490 nm in solvents of increasing polarity leads to a red-shifted BODIPY emission with weakened intensity. This spectral behavior indicated the occurrence of emission from the locally excited (LE) state in nonpolar solvents, whereas formation of an LE state followed by the rotation of the chromophores at the D-A bond leads to a low energy twisted intramolecular charge transfer state (TICT), resulting in a charge-separated state BBA^+•-BODIPY^-• in polar solvents. Furthermore, the hydrophobicity studies involving the solutions of dyads in admixtures of polar tetrahydrofuran (THF) and nonpolar hexanes revealed that when the fraction of hexanes in these mixtures is increased, the emission of BODIPY moiety was observed to be blue-shifted and exhibited enhanced intensity supporting the occurrence of TICT in these dyads.

Steric Engineering of Cyclometalated Pt(II) Complexes toward High-Contrast Monomer-Excimer-Based Mechanochromic and Vapochromic Luminescence

Ligands play a crucial role in the supramolecular photoluminescence properties of Pt(II) square-planar complexes. To improve the luminescence color responses of N∧C∧N cyclometalated Pt(II) complexes to external stimuli such as mechanical stress and chemical vapors, we have conducted a steric engineering of the previous systems 1a-1d [Inorg. Chem. 2017, 56, 4978-4989] by introducing two tert-butyl groups to the tridentate ligand to form complexes 2a-2c. Unlike the "too low" or "too high" steric hindrance of the NCNPt core in 1a-1d, the combined steric effects of the tert-butyl groups at one side and the pentiptycene group at the other side of the NCNPt core in 2b are "just right" for generating as-prepared powders with pure monomer (green) emission or pure excimer (red) emission, depending on the rate of precipitation from solutions. The synergistic steric effects are also beneficial to the solid-state luminescence quantum efficiency (30-36%). As a result of the differences in steric interactions and thus in the relative monomer vs excimer emission intensity, each complex of 2a-2c performs a two-step luminescence mechanochromism and vapochromism with different color patterns. This work provides an intriguing example of steric engineering of Pt(II) complexes toward highly emissive molecular solids with high-contrast mechanochromic and vapochromic luminescence.

Pentiptycene Polymer/Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Complexes: Applications in Benzene, Toluene, and o-Xylene Detection

We report the dispersion of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) using pentiptycene polymers and their use in chemiresistance-based and QCM-D sensors. Poly(p-phenylene ethynylene)s (PPEs) incorporating pentiptycene moieties present a concave surface that promotes π-π interactions and van der Waals interactions with SWCNTs. In contrast to more common polymer-dispersing mechanisms that involve the wrapping of polymers around the SWCNTs, we conclude that the H-shape of pentiptycene groups and the linear rigid-rod structure creates a slot for nanotube binding. UV-vis-NIR, Raman, and fluorescence spectra and TEM images of polymer/SWCNTs support this dispersion model, which shows size selectivity to SWCNTs with diameters of 0.8-0.9 nm. Steric bulk on the channels is problematic, and tert-butylated pentiptycenes do not form stable dispersions with SWCNTs. This result, along with the diameter preference, supports the model in which the SWCNTs are bound to the concave clefts of the pentiptycenes. The binding model suggests that the polymer/SWCNTs complex creates galleries, and we have demonstrated the binding of benzene, toluene, and o-xylene (BTX) vapors as the basis for a robust, sensitive, and selective sensing platform for BTX detection. The utility of our sensors is demonstrated by the detection of benzene at the OSHA short-term exposure limit of 5 ppm in air.

Well-Defined Conjugated Macromolecules Based on Oligo(Arylene Ethynylene)s in Sensing

Macromolecules with well-defined structures in terms of molar mass and monomer sequence became interesting building blocks for modern materials. The precision of the macromolecular structure makes fine-tuning of the properties of resulting materials possible. Conjugated macromolecules exhibit excellent optoelectronic properties that make them exceptional candidates for sensor construction. The importance of chain length and monomer sequence is particularly important in conjugated systems. The oligomer length, monomer sequence, and structural modification often influence the energy bang gap between the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of the molecules that reflect in their properties. Moreover, the supramolecular aggregation that is often observed in oligo-conjugated systems is usually strongly affected by even minor structural changes that are used for sensor designs. This review discusses the examples of well-defined conjugated macromolecules based on oligo(arylene ethynylene) skeleton used for sensor applications. Here, exclusively examples of uniform macromolecules are summarized. The sensing mechanisms and importance of uniformity of structure are deliberated.

Highly Sensitive and Discriminative Detection of BTEX in the Vapor Phase: A Film-Based Fluorescent Approach

BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene, m-xylene, and p-xylene) represents a group of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and constitutes a great threat to human health. However, sensitive, selective, and speedy detection of them on-site and in the vapor phase remains a challenge for years. Herein, we report a film-based fluorescent approach and a conceptual sensor, which shows unprecedented sensitivity, speed, and reversibility to the aromatic hydrocarbons in the vapor phase. In the studies, pentiptycene was employed to produce a nonplanar perylene bisimide (PBI) derivative, P-PBI. The compound was further utilized to fabricate the film. The novelty of the design is the combination of capillary condensation and solvent effect, which is expected to enrich the analytes from vapor phase and shows outputs at the same time. Importantly, the film permits instant response (∼3 s) and real-time identification (<1 min) of benzene and toluene from other aromatic hydrocarbons. The experimental detection limits (DLs) of the six analytes are lower than 9.2, 2.7, 1.9, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.4 ppm, which with the exception of benzene, are significantly lower than the NIOSH recommended long-term exposure limits. More importantly, the film is photochemically stable, and more than 300 repetitive tests showed no observable bleaching. In addition, the sensing is fully reversible. The superior performance of the film device is in support of the assumption that the combination of capillary condensation and solvation effect would constitute an effective way to design high-performance fluorescent films, especially for challenging chemical inert and photoelectronically inactive VOCs.

Photomechanochromic vs. mechanochromic fluorescence of a unichromophoric bimodal molecular solid: multicolour fluorescence patterning

The multicolour fluorescence responses to external mechanical forces vs. internal photomechanical stresses of a molecular solid are demonstrated and compared.

Mechanofluorochromism (MFC) of molecular solids generally results from the variation of intermolecular interactions induced by external mechanical forces. However, the use of internal photomechanical forces to perturb intermolecular interactions for multicolour fluorescence responses has yet to be demonstrated. Herein we report a unichromophoric anthracene–pentiptycene derivative (1) that displays both MFC and photomechanofluorochromism (PMFC), which lead to various fluorescence colours including red-green-blue (RGB) and near-pure white-light emission. Compound 1 crystallizes in two polymorphs, the yellow (Y) and green (G) emissive forms, in which the pairwise stacked anthracene groups undergo [4 + 4] photodimerization to form the UV (black) emissive photodimer 2 and meanwhile exert photomechanical stresses on the neighbouring molecules. While the photomechanical stresses cause an excimer-to-monomer switching that results in a blue fluorescent state for the Y form, a red-emissive “super dimer” is photomechanically produced for the G form. The recovery of the Y form demands heating, but the G form could be restored by selective photoexcitation of the super dimer. X-ray crystal structures of the Y and G forms and the photodimer 2 generated through single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformation provide a clue to the origins of polymorph-dependent PMFC. The corresponding MFC and mechano-activated vapofluorochromism (VFC) of 1 also shed light on the structure–property relationship. The ability to spatially and temporally control the fluorochromicity of 1 is demonstrated by a series of multicolour fluorescence patterning of “angelfishes”.

A H-shaped heterometallic Sn4Au4 system with guest-tuneable multicolour and selective luminescence sensing properties

A H-shaped heterometallic Sn₄Au₄ system displays guest-dependent optical properties and its stimuli-responsive methylred-rich crystals are sensitive towards pH variations.

Bridged tolanes: a twisted tale

The rotational motion of tolanes along their acetylene axis is not fully understood. What happens to the optical and electronic properties if the tolane backbone is forced into a twisted conformation? Several tethers were investigated to obtain tolanophanes, fixing the torsion angle of the two phenyl rings. X-ray crystal structures revealed tether-specific torsion angles in the solid state. The absorption, emission, and excitation spectra were recorded. Twisted tethered tolane conformers showed blue-shifted absorption; emission spectra were all torsionally independent and identical. The tethered tolanes were embedded in a rigid matrix by freezing to 77 K; well-resolved emission spectra were recorded for planar tolanes, but for twisted systems unexpectedly long-lived phosphorescence was observed. How is this triplet emission explained? Quantum chemical calculations (TDDFT/cam-B3LYP/6-31G*) of the unsubstituted tolane showed that intersystem crossing (ISC) is favored with large spin-orbit coupling, which occurs when the molecular orbitals are orthogonal to each other; this is the case at the crossing of S1/T7. Also, a small energy difference between singlet and triplet states is required; we found that ISC can favorably take place at four crossings: S1/T6, S1/T7, S1/T(8,9), S1/T10.

Oligo(quinoxalineethynylene)s: synthesis, properties, and Ag+-mediated complanation

A series of oligo(quinoxalineethylene)s which exhibit n-type semi-conducting features were synthesized, and adding Ag(+) to their solutions induced the backbones to adopt coplanar conformations due to Ag(+)-N coordination.

Dipole effects on molecular and electronic structures in a novel conjugate of oligo(phenyleneethynylene) and helical peptide

A novel conjugate of a helical nonapeptide and an oligo(phenyleneethynylene) (OPE) having a nitro group at a molecular terminal was synthesized. Both components have a dipole. The peptide has a disulfide group at the N-terminal for immobilization on gold. In order to investigate the electric field effect of the helical peptide dipole on the OPE and molecular structure by the dipole-dipole interaction between the two components, the electronic structure of the OPE was spectroscopically studied in solution, the self-assembled monolayer on gold, and Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) layers on a fused quartz surface. The absorption maximum (lambda(max)) of the OPE component in chloroform is red-shifted by 4 nm from the reference OPE derivative without the helical peptide component. The red shifts of the OPE component are also observed in the LB monolayer and bilayer compared with that of the self-assembled monolayer. The observed dipole effect of the peptide on the OPE electronic structure was quantitatively discussed with ab initio calculations. Antiparallel orientation on the dipole directions of the peptide and the OPE components is considered to explain the red shifts via the dipole effect on the electronic structure of the OPE.