Issue 44, 2018

Dynamic and static excimer: a versatile platform for single component white-light emission and chelation-enhanced fluorescence

Abstract

The present study demonstrates the tuning of iconic optical features of pyrene through its judicious assembly with a C3-symmetric triaminoguanidinium ion, leading to the development of a unique multifunctional luminescent material PYTG. By fine tuning the concentration and the external stimuli, such as temperature, the addition of analytes led to a dramatic change in the fluorescence of PYTG, providing an excellent platform for the exploration of the dynamic and static excimer formation. Recently, white-light-emitting molecular probes have received considerable attention from the scientific community due to their great potentials in display devices. Tripodal PYTG was employed as a pure white-light emitter consisting of blue emission from monomers and orange emission from excimers both in solution and thin film with Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.33, 0.34) and (0.33, 0.38), respectively. The formation of a dynamic excimer along with monomer fluorescence at higher concentrations of PYTG led to tunable emission. Additionally, the rich electronic properties of PYTG allowed efficient detection of trivalent metal ions by turn-on fluorescence and colorimetric sensing of fluoride ions. PYTG selectively detected Fe3+ and Al3+ with nanomolar sensitivity in a semi-aqueous solution via a chelation-enhanced fluorescence response in the orange-red region (λem = 588 nm) by static excimer formation. The ‘on–off’ fluorescence switching by the consecutive addition of trivalent cations and a chelating ligand EDTA makes PYTG a promising fluorescent molecular switch. A simple and cost-effective strategy, leading to the development of a versatile fluorescent probe and an in-depth exploration of the structure–property relationship as delineated in the present manuscript, will pave the way for the emergence of novel task-specific molecular optical materials.

Graphical abstract: Dynamic and static excimer: a versatile platform for single component white-light emission and chelation-enhanced fluorescence

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
20 juin 2018
Accepted
01 oct. 2018
First published
08 oct. 2018

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2018,6, 12086-12094

Dynamic and static excimer: a versatile platform for single component white-light emission and chelation-enhanced fluorescence

V. Kumar, B. Sk, S. Kundu and A. Patra, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2018, 6, 12086 DOI: 10.1039/C8TC03035A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements