Lichao Dong

The synthesis of chiral triphenylpyrrole derivatives and their aggregation-induced emission enhancement, aggregation-induced circular dichroism and helical self-assembly

A pair of enantiomers ((R)-TPPBAm and (S)-TPPBAm) and their raceme (rac-TPPBAm) were designed and prepared by conjugating (R)-, (S)- or racemic 1-phenylethylamine to an aggregation-induced emission enhancement (AIEE) active triphenylpyrrole fluorophore. The three target compounds were thoroughly characterized and their optical properties were systematically investigated. The fluorescence analyses indicate that they all retain the AIEE activities originating from the triphenylpyrrole moiety, irrespective of the attaching groups. More importantly, both the enantiomers containing (R)- or (S)-1-phenylethylamine attachment exhibit aggregation-induced circular dichroism (AICD) features with mirror-image signals. Besides, they also exhibit circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) with an emission dissymmetry factor (gem) from 1.5 × 10−4 to 3 × 10−3 for (R)-TPPBAm and −1.3 × 10−4 to −4 × 10−3 for (S)-TPPBAm in aggregate states. As expected, consistent with the variations of their CD signals, (R)-TPPBAm and (S)-TPPBAm could self-assemble into helical nanofibers with the opposite screw direction during the aggregation process in the THF–water mixed solution, while the racemic compound rac-TPPBAm exhibits no CD and CPL signals, and self-assembles to form nanoparticles blocks. These results demonstrate that the morphologies and optical activities can be controlled simultaneously without losing the solid-state emission performance of the material by attaching a chiral group to an AIEE fluorophore, which could shed light on the design of optical active fluorophores for sensitive and time-efficient enantiomer determination.

Aggregation-induced emission enhancement and aggregation-induced circular dichroism of chiral pentaphenylpyrrole derivatives and their helical self-assembly

Herein, a pair of enantiomers, (S)-PPPtriAm and (R)-PPPtriAm, with three chiral substituents and their raceme rac-PPPtriAm derived from conjugated luminogen pentaphenylpyrrole were prepared by covalently attaching (R)-/(S)- or racemic 1-phenylethylamine to conjugated 1-biphenyl-2,3,4,5-tetraphenyl pyrrole. The compounds exhibit obvious aggregation-induced emission enhancement (AIEE) features, and the chiral substituents have little effect on the photophysical properties. More importantly, the introduction of chiral substituents endows the chiral compounds (S)-PPPtriAm and (R)-PPPtriAm with distinct aggregation-induced circular dichroism (AICD) with mirror-image Cotton effects and chiral-polarized luminescence (CPL) properties with an emission dissymmetry factor (gem) in the range of 0.5 × 10−3 to 5 × 10−3 for (S)-PPPtriAm and −1 × 10−3 to −6 × 10−3 for (R)-PPPtriAm in a DMSO–water mixture with the water fraction of 40%. The chiral compounds (S)-PPPtriAm and (R)-PPPtriAm can self-assemble into nanofibers, and the lank nanofibers orderly weave and align together to form a regular arrangement of aggregates. The raceme rac-PPPtriAm exhibits AIEE features without any AICD and CPL signals and can self-assemble to form nanoparticle blocks. The enantiomers (S)-PPPtriAm and (R)-PPPtriAm, as AIEE-active luminogens with a multichiral substituent, are expected to have potential applications in photoelectronic materials or in the design of optically active fluorophores for sensitive enantiomer recognition.

The Synergistic Effect between Triphenylpyrrole Isomers as Donors, Linking Groups and Acceptors on the Fluorescence Properties of D-π-A Compounds in the Solid State

Eight donor-π-acceptor (D-π-A) compounds employing triphenylpyrrole isomers (TPP-1,2,5 and TPP-1,3,4) as donors, malononitrile (CN) and 1H-indene-1,3(2H)-dione (CO) as acceptors, pyridone (P) and benzopyran (B) as π-linking groups were synthesized. The compounds exhibited aggregation-induced emission and piezochromic properties. Compared with previously reported donors, triphenylpyrroles induced all the compounds to have more remarkable photophysical properties. The compounds containing TPP-1,2,5 and P moieties displayed stronger fluorescence intensities, shorter emission wavelengths, and more distinct piezochromic properties. However, the same phenomenon was observed in the TPP-1,3,4-containing system if B was as π-linker. Moreover, the CN acceptor endowed the compound to have a relatively strong fluorescent intensity, in which CO induced a relatively long emission wavelength. That is, the photophysical properties of D-π-A compounds can be controlled by adjusting the structure of donor, linker and acceptor.

The Dual-State Luminescent Mechanism of 2,3,4,5-Tetraphenyl-1H-pyrrole

2,3,4,5-Tetraphenyl-1H-pyrrole (TePP) was synthesized by a simple one-step reaction. The compound showed a balanced emission in both the solution and solid state with the absolute quantum yield of ΦF/THF =65.6 % and ΦF/solid =74.3 %, respectively. Temperature and viscosity variation measurements demonstrated that the phenyl group at the 1-position (N-position) of the pyrrole core can act as a rotor in pyrrole-based molecules, which can consume the excited energy and reduce the molecular emission in solution. TePP without the phenyl group at the 1-position can effectively enhance the emission in solution. Single-crystal analysis showed that the phenyl groups at the 2,5-positions of pyrrole extend the molecular conjugation and lock the conformation. The phenyl groups at the 3,4-positions with a twisted conformation prevent their molecules from close packing and are helpful for aggregated emission. A delicate balance between the twisting conformation and rigid conjugation takes advantage of both ACQ and AIE luminogens. The strategy can tune the AIE, ACQ, or solution and solid dual-state emission properties of pyrrole-based molecules by simply altering the position of phenyl groups, which provides a great opportunity to explore the luminescent mechanism in greater detail and to facilitate practical applications.