The intriguing case of cyclic triimidazole: an emerging scaffold for the preparation of multiemissive, bio-medical and hybrid inorganic–organic materials

Abstract

Among organic small molecules characterized by multifaceted behaviour, triimidazo[1,2-a:1′,2′-c:1′′,2′′-e][1,3,5]triazine, TT, having a triazinic central ring with three annelated imidazoles, represents a fascinating but still underinvestigated scaffold endowed with intriguing luminescence and coordination properties. Here we comprehensively gather studies, mainly conducted by our research group, on several fully organic or hybrid inorganic–organic TTs revealing their AIE, RTP, mechanochromic and excitation dependent photoluminescence behaviours. Preliminary applications of TTs in sensing and bio-medicine are also reported, opening avenues for further studies in these fields and widening the potentiality of TT and its derivatives. On the whole, the results shown here clearly demonstrate that cyclic triimidazole can be rightfully included in the toolbox of powerful scaffolds inspiring the preparation of multifunctional molecular materials.