Tetraphenylfuran: aggregation-induced emission or aggregation-caused quenching?

Han Nie; Kun Hu; Yuanjing Cai; Qian Peng; Zujin Zhao; Rongrong Hu; Junwu Chen; Shi-Jian Su; Anjun Qin; Ben Zhong Tang

doi:10.1039/C6QM00343E

Tetraphenylfuran: aggregation-induced emission or aggregation-caused quenching?†

Han Nie,‡^a Kun Hu,‡^a Yuanjing Cai,^a Qian Peng,^b Zujin Zhao,^a Rongrong Hu,^a Junwu Chen,^a Shi-Jian Su,^a Anjun Qin

*^a and Ben Zhong Tang*^ac

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* Corresponding authors

^a Guangdong Innovative Research Team, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China
E-mail: msqinaj@scut.edu.cn

^b Key Laboratory of Organic Solids, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Science, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China

^c Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
E-mail: tangbenz@ust.hk

Abstract

Tetraphenylfuran (TPF) and its control molecule tetraphenylthiophene (TPT), which are structurally similar to the aggregation-induced emission (AIE) active 2,3,4,5-tetraphenylsilole, were synthesized. Surprisingly, investigation of its photo-physical properties showed that TPF exhibits the aggregation-caused quenching effect instead of AIE characteristics, whereas TPT exhibits a quite weak AIE effect. Combining experimental results and theoretical calculations, this phenomenon was concluded to be co-caused by the restriction of intramolecular rotation (RIR), the mechanism of AIE, and the conjugation effect. Thus, this work provides an insight into RIR, which will greatly promote the development of AIE.

This article is part of the themed collections: Materials Chemistry Frontiers HOT articles for 2017 and Aggregation-Induced Emission

Materials Chemistry Frontiers

Tetraphenylfuran: aggregation-induced emission or aggregation-caused quenching?†

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Tetraphenylfuran: aggregation-induced emission or aggregation-caused quenching?

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