A novel fluorescent self-assembling material with gel properties: ion recognition and energy transfer

Abstract

A novel fabrication strategy for preparing fluorescent nanomaterials has been proposed based on supramolecular self-assembly complexes and energy transfer. Here a dual acylhydrazone-functionalized molecule (DAF) was designed and synthesized by a Schiff base reaction. In DMSO–H₂O binary solutions, the DAF could selectively identify Al³⁺ and form supramolecular self-assembly complexes DAF–Al³⁺. Interestingly, by loading the dye acridine yellow G (AYG) as an energy acceptor, an efficient light-harvesting system was successfully fabricated based on the supramolecular self-assembly complexes DAF–Al³⁺ (donors).