Synthesis of 1,4-Bis[2,2-bis(4-alkoxyphenyl)vinyl]benzenes and Side Chain Modulation of Their Solid-State Emission

Organocatalytic Synthesis of α-Triphenylmethylamines from Diarylketimines and Phenols

A formal Betti reaction between variously substituted phenols and benzophenone-derived imines to afford α-triphenylmethylamines is reported. The key to the success of this transformation is the in situ generation of the reactive benzophenone iminium species under organocatalytic conditions. Different phenols reacted smoothly, enabling the synthesis of an array of α-triphenylmethylamines, which are highly valued structural motifs in bioactive molecules and chemical sensors.

Fluorinated Tolane Dyads with Alkylene Linkage: Synthesis and Evaluation of Photophysical Characteristics

Light-emitting materials have received considerable attention because of their broad applications as substrates in bio-imaging and sensing components, light-emitting displays, and lighting devices. Herein, we developed fluorinated tolane and bistolane derivatives containing fluorinated aromatic rings and demonstrated their intense photoluminescence (PL) characteristics in crystalline powder states. We focused on molecules showing varied PL behavior with a change in the molecular aggregated structures. We synthesized novel fluorinated tolane dyads consisting of fluorinated tolane-based π-conjugated scaffolds and flexible alkylene linkages to control both the electron-density distribution and molecular aggregated states. Fluorinated tolane dyads connected with an alkylene linkage showed blue PL in a dilute solution, but the PL efficiency achieved was low. In contrast, the crystalline powder of tolane dyad substrates exhibited dual emission—relatively intense blue to deep blue PL—originating from monomer and aggregate emission. The PL behavior changed significantly with the alkylene linkage and the application of a mechanical stimulus to the crystalline powder sample. The fluorinated tolane dyads developed in this study could serve as stimulus-responsive photoluminescent materials suitable for optical applications.

A New Kind of Nonconventional Luminogen Based on Aliphatic Polyhydroxyurethane and Its Potential Application in Ink-Free Anticounterfeiting Printing

Organic luminogens have extensive applications due to their unique photophysical properties. In recent years, nonconjugated organic luminogens, in contrast to traditional conjugated luminogens, have gained much attention because of their facile preparation, environmental friendliness, and biocompatibility. In this study, a new kind of nonconventional luminogen based on dynamic covalent cross-linked polyhydroxyurethane is reported for the first time. The new luminogen not only exhibits intrinsic strong fluorescent emission in the solid state but also possesses high mechanical properties along with good shape memory and self-healing properties. In addition, the new luminogens are synthesized from aliphatic polyfunctional cyclic carbonate and amines via a much more straightforward method, avoiding the use of toxic isocyanates. Investigations indicated that the intrinsic luminescence of the resultant luminogens was induced by the cross-linking of polymer chains and could be well tuned by controlling the degree of cross-linking. By taking advantage of the unique characteristics of the resultant polymer luminogens, we further developed a facile method, named "light-mediated ink-free screen printing", for anticounterfeiting paper fabrication. Different from traditional ink-based printing technology, the new method used UV-light instead of expensive security ink to encode anticounterfeiting information on natural cellulose paper. The anticounterfeiting information is stable under various wet conditions, showing promising applications in the fast-growing counterfeiting of pharmaceuticals, packaging, and the food industry.

Strong and insusceptible photo-emissions from an intramolecular weak hydrogen bond strengthened twisted fluorophore

Intramolecular weak hydrogen bonds of CHO and CH/Pi were introduced into a twisted fluorophore backbone of 1,4-bis(2,2-diphenylvinyl)benzene, which enables the fluorophore to emit violently and stably in both solubilized and aggregated states, and be inert to solvent environments and preserve over 10% quantum yield at temperature as high as 90 °C in solution.

Effect of alkyl groups on emission properties of aggregation induced emission active N-alkyl arylaminomaleimide dyes

Aggregation induced emission (AIE) active N-alkyl aminomaleimide dyes with various kinds of N-alkyl groups were synthesized in a one pot process.

Evaluation of BDE-47 hydroxylation metabolic pathways based on a strong electron-withdrawing pentafluorobenzoyl derivatization gas chromatography/electron capture negative ionization quadrupole mass spectrometry

Understanding the metabolic pathways of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) is a key issue in the evaluation of their cytotoxicity after they enter the biota. In order to obtain more information concerning the metabolic pathways of PBDEs, we developed a strong electron-withdrawing pentafluorobenzoyl (PFBoyl) derivatization capillary gas chromatography/electron capture negative ionization quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC/ECNI-qMS). PFBoyl esterification greatly improves separation of the metabolites of PBDEs such as hydroxylated PBDEs (OH-PBDEs) and bromophenols (BPs) metabolites in rat liver microsomes (RLMs). On the other hand, the strong electron-withdrawing property of PFBoyl derivatized on OH-PBDEs and/or BPs makes cleavage of the ester bond on ECNI easier resulting in higher abundance of the structure-informative characteristic fragment ions at a high m/z region, which facilitate the identification of OH-PBDEs metabolites. Subsequent quantification can be performed by monitoring not only 79Br- (or 81Br-) but also their characteristic fragment ions, achieving more accurate isotope dilution quantification using GC/ECNI-qMS. These merits allow us to identify totally 12 metabolites of BDE-47, a typical example of PBDEs, in the RLMs in vitro incubation systems. In addition to the already known metabolites of BDE-47, one dihydroxylated 3,6-di-OH-BDE-47 and one dihydroxylated 3,5-di-OH-tetrabrominated dioxin were found. Moreover, the second hydroxylation took place on the same bromophenyl ring, where the first hydroxyl group was located, and was further confirmed via the identification of the dihydroxylated 2',6'-di-OH-BDE-28 of an asymmetric 2'-OH-BDE-28. This methodological development and its subsequent findings of the metabolic pathways of BDE-47 provided experimental evidence for understanding its dioxin-like behavior and endocrine disrupting risk.

Novel Discotic Boroxines: Synthesis and Mesomorphic Properties

A new synthetic approach to highly substituted triphenylboroxines 11 is described. Their mesomorphic properties were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarizing optical microscopy (POM) and X-ray diffraction (SAXS, WAXS). The tris(3,4,5-trialkyloxy)phenyl functionalized derivatives 11b–e showed broad mesophases for a minimum alkyl chain length of C9. The phase widths ranged from 110 K to 77 K near room temperature, thus decreasing with enhanced alkyl chain lengths. Textures observed under POM indicated a columnar hexagonal (Col_h) mesophase symmetry that was confirmed by X-ray diffraction experiments.