Issue 25, 2018

Dual fluorescence of tetraphenylethylene-substituted pyrenes with aggregation-induced emission characteristics for white-light emission

Abstract

This article presents a new strategy to achieve white-light emission from single tetraphenylethylene-substituted pyrenes (TPE-Pys) with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics. TPE-Pys were synthesized by a Pd-catalyzed coupling reaction of a boronic acid or pinacol ester of pyrene and tetraphenylethylene (TPE) derivatives and showed multicolor emission by introducing different substituents on the phenyl rings of TPE. TPE-Pys with a TPE unit at the 1-position and asymmetric TPE units at 2,7-positions show dual fluorescence in THF/water mixtures to realize white-light emission with CIE coordinates of (x = 0.30 and y = 0.41) and (x = 0.21 and y = 0.16), respectively. The structure–property relationship of TPE-Pys were investigated to elucidate the origin of the white emission. The results showed that due to the weak electronic interaction of pyrene and its chromophoric units at the 2,7-positions and the constraint of the rotation of the TPE unit at the 1-position of pyrene, each component can exhibit its own emission color. The combination of appropriate colors gives rise to white-light emission. Such a principle of molecular design may open a new avenue for preparing advanced multicolor and multifunctional optical materials for organic electronics.

Graphical abstract: Dual fluorescence of tetraphenylethylene-substituted pyrenes with aggregation-induced emission characteristics for white-light emission

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
14 אפר 2018
Accepted
30 מאי 2018
First published
31 מאי 2018
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2018,9, 5679-5687

Dual fluorescence of tetraphenylethylene-substituted pyrenes with aggregation-induced emission characteristics for white-light emission

X. Feng, C. Qi, H. Feng, Z. Zhao, H. H. Y. Sung, I. D. Williams, R. T. K. Kwok, Jacky W. Y. Lam, A. Qin and B. Z. Tang, Chem. Sci., 2018, 9, 5679 DOI: 10.1039/C8SC01709C

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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