Fluorene-based mononuclear gold(i) complexes: the effect of alkyl chain, aggregation-induced emission (AIE) and mechanochromism characteristics

Abstract

In this paper, three fluorene-based gold(I) complexes have been synthesized and characterized. All of these mononuclear gold(I) complexes exhibit obvious aggregation-induced emission (AIE) behavior. Furthermore, the luminogen 3 without containing alkyl chains also shows reversible mechanochromism property involving fluorescence color changes from green to faint yellow. The mechanism for AIE characteristics of these gold(I) complexes and mechanochromic behavior of luminogen 3 possibly involves a change in weak intermolecular π⋯π and C–H⋯F interactions and the generation of intermolecular gold–gold interactions.