Color-tunable single-fluorophore supramolecular system with assembly-encoded emission

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 158 - 9
• Main Authors: Wang, Qian, Zhang, Qi, Zhang, Qi-Wei, Li, Xin, Zhao, Cai-Xin, Xu, Tian-Yi, Qu, Da-Hui, Tian, He
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 09.01.2020; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 132/122; 140/131; 140/58; 147/143; 639/301/923/966; 639/638/298/923/966; 639/638/541/966; Aqueous solutions; Chemistry; Color; Cyclodextrin; Cyclodextrins; Engineering; Environmental regulations; Fluorescence; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hydrogels; Hydrogen bonds; Laboratories; Light emission; multidisciplinary; Organic chemistry; Properties (attributes); Pyrene; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Self-assembly; Solvents; White light
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13994-6

Regulating the fluorescent properties of organic small molecules in a controlled and dynamic manner has been a fundamental research goal. Although several strategies have been exploited, realizing multi-color molecular emission from a single fluorophore remains challenging. Herein, we demonstrate an emissive system by combining pyrene fluorophore and acylhydrazone units, which can generate multi-color switchable fluorescent emissions at different assembled states. Two kinds of supramolecular tools, amphiphilic self-assembly and γ-cyclodextrin mediated host-guest recognition, are used to manipulate the intermolecular aromatic stacking distances, resulting in the tunable fluorescent emission ranging from blue to yellow, including a pure white-light emission. Moreover, an external chemical signal, amylase, is introduced to control the assembly states of the system on a time scale, generating a distinct dynamic emission system. The dynamic properties of this multi-color fluorescent system can be also enabled in a hydrogel network, exhibiting a promising potential for intelligent fluorescent materials. Regulating fluorescent properties of small molecules in a controlled manner has been a fundamental research goal but realizing multi-color emission from a single fluorophore remains challenging. Here the authros demonstrate that combined pyrene fluorophore and acylhydrazone units show multi-color switchable fluorescent at different assembled states.