Highly luminescent gels and mesogens based on elaborated borondipyrromethenes

Supramolecular gels and liquid-crystalline materials containing borondipyrromethene (F-Bodipy) are a new class of highly luminescent materials built by attachment of long-chain alkoxydiacylamido scaffoldings to boradiazaindacene templates. Robust gels were formed in nonane, and luminescence spectroscopy was used to probe the aggregation processes of the flat indacene cores. Coincidently, columnar mesophase was obtained from the pure material over a wide temperature range, allowing textural observations by fluorescence microscopy.