Multi-responsive fluorescent switches and iodine capture of porous hydrogen-bonded self-assemblies

Abstract

A four-armed divinylanthracene derivative was designed and synthesized to construct multifunctional porous self-assemblies. It could form stable supramolecular gels, and its fluorescence gradually increased during gelation, exhibiting aggregation-induced emission enhancement. SEM, TEM, BET and molecular simulation suggested that gelators stacked to form one-dimensional porous nanoribbons by multiple hydrogen bonds. The xerogel film might change the fluorescence from green to yellow under force stimuli because of the enhanced π-stacking and recover its fluorescence after solvent annealing. Moreover, fluorescent films acting as sensing materials were applied in the quantitative detection of gaseous nitrobenzene and the detection limit reached 1.5 ppb. The sensing film was not sensitive to the gases of common organic solvents. More interestingly, the solids composed of porous nanoribbons might efficiently capture iodine in aqueous and gaseous states, and could be recycled many times.