Green-fluorescent naphthalene diimide: conducting layered hierarchical 2D nanosheets and reversible probe for detection of aromatic solvents

Abstract

We report the molecular engineering of asymmetrically functionalized naphthalene diimide (NDI) with a simple amino acid into robust self-assembled free-standing, green-fluorescent and conducting layered hierarchical 2D nanosheets which exhibit chiral and crystalline molecular packing. Remarkably the NDI–amino acid conjugate displays tunable fluorescence emission (wavelength range 400–540 nm) properties in aromatic solvents. Furthermore we have exploited the phenomenon of excimer to exciplex transformation to develop a filter paper-based reversible fluorometric test kit for the detection of benzene, a well-known classified carcinogen.