Cations Controlling the Chiral Assembly of Luminescent Atomically Precise Copper(I) Clusters

Chiral assembly and asymmetric synthesis are critically important for the generation of chiral metal clusters with chiroptical activities. Here, a racemic mixture of [K(CH₃OH)₂(18‐crown‐6)]⁺[Cu₅(S^tBu)₆]^? ( 1?CH₃OH ) in the chiral space group was prepared, in which the chiral red‐emissive anionic [Cu₅(S^tBu)₆]^? cluster was arranged along a twofold screw axis. Interestingly, the release of the coordinated CH₃OH of the cationic units turned the chiral 1?CH₃OH crystal into a mesomeric crystal [K(18‐crown‐6)]⁺[Cu₅(S^tBu)₆]^? ( 1 ), which has a centrosymmetric space group, by adding symmetry elements of glide and mirror planes through both disordered [Cu₅(S^tBu)₆]^? units. The switchable chiral/achiral rearrangement of [Cu₅(S^tBu)₆]^? clusters along with the capture/release of CH₃OH were concomitant with an intense increase/decrease in luminescence. We also used cationic chiral amino alcohols to induce the chiral assembly of a pair of enantiomers, [d /l ‐valinol(18‐crown‐6)]⁺[Cu₅(S^tBu)₆]^? ( d /l ‐Cu_5V ), which display impressive circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) in contrast to the CPL‐silent racemic mixture of 1?CH₃OH and mesomeric 1 .     

Organic Room‐Temperature Phosphorescence with Strong Circularly Polarized Luminescence Based on Paracyclophanes

Pure organic materials with intrinsic room‐temperature phosphorescence typically rely on heavy atoms or heteroatoms. Two different strategies towards constructing organic room‐temperature phosphorescence (RTP) species based upon the through‐space charge transfer (TSCT) unit of [2.2]paracyclophane (PCP) were demonstrated. Materials with bromine atoms, PCP‐BrCz and PPCP‐BrCz, exhibit RTP lifetime of around 100 ms. Modulating the PCP core with non‐halogen‐containing electron‐withdrawing units, PCP‐TNTCz and PCP‐PyCNCz, successfully elongate the RTP lifetime to 313.59 and 528.00 ms, respectively, the afterglow of which is visible for several seconds under ambient conditions. The PCP‐TNTCz and PCP‐PyCNCz enantiomers display excellent circular polarized luminescence with dissymmetry factors as high as ?1.2×10^?2 in toluene solutions, and decent RTP lifetime of around 300 ms for PCP‐TNTCz enantiomers in crystalline state.     

Finely Controlled Circularly Polarized Luminescence of a Mechano‐Responsive Supramolecular Polymer

Finely controlled circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) supramolecular polymerization based on a tetraphenylethene core with four l ‐ or d ‐alanine branch side chains (l ‐ 1 and d ‐ 1 ) in the solution state is presented, resulting from the tuning of mechanical stimulus. Weak, green emissions of l ‐ 1 and d ‐ 1 in tetrahydrofuran (THF) were converted into strong blue emissions by tuning the mechanical stimulus. The strong blue emissions were caused by an aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) effect during the formation of a supramolecular polymer. Lag time in the supramolecular polymerization was drastically reduced by the mechanical stimulus, which was indicative of the acceleration of the supramolecular polymerization. A significant enhancement of circular dichroism (CD) and CPL signals of l ‐ 1 and d ‐ 1 was observed by tuning the rotational speed of the mechanical stimulus, implying that the chiral supramolecular polymerization was accelerated by the mechanical stimulus.     

Highly Efficient Far Red/Near‐Infrared Solid Fluorophores: Aggregation‐Induced Emission,Intramolecular Charge Transfer,Twisted Molecular Conformation,and Bioimaging Applications

The development of organic fluorophores with efficient solid‐state emissions or aggregated‐state emissions in the red to near‐infrared region is still challenging. Reported herein are fluorophores having aggregation‐induced emission ranging from the orange to far red/near‐infrared (FR/NIR) region. The bioimaging performance of the designed fluorophore is shown to have potential as FR/NIR fluorescent probes for biological applications.