Synthesis and characterisation of substituted diphenylamines—charge-transfer, donor–acceptor systems localised at water–oil interfaces

Abstract

A range of charge-transfer, donor–acceptor systems have been synthesised and subjected to in-depth crystallographic, spectroscopic and interfacial studies. The pyridine- or phenyl-substituted (N,N-diphenyl)amino derivatives contain an identical donor unit, NR₃, and acceptor species with varying acceptor strength, with three compounds (3, 6 and 9) being characterised by X-ray structural analysis. Two of the compounds, the methyl 6 and octyl 8 derivatives, show interfacial localisationviafluorescence confocal microscopy and illustrate their potential as light-driven optical machines.