Issue 2, 2017

The HOF structures of nitrotetraphenylethene derivatives provide new insights into the nature of AIE and a way to design mechanoluminescent materials

Abstract

This study probes the effect of intramolecular rotations on aggregation-induced emission (AIE) and leads to a kind of supramolecular mechanoluminescent material. Two hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs), namely HOFTPE3N and HOFTPE4N, have been constructed from nitro-substituted tetraphenylethene (TPE) building blocks, namely tris(4-nitrophenyl)phenylethene (TPE3N) and tetrakis(4-nitrophenyl)ethene (TPE4N). Using single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, two types of pores are observed in the HOFTPE4N supramolecular structure. The pore sizes are 5.855 Å × 5.855 Å (α pores) and 7.218 Å × 7.218 Å (β pores). Powder X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry studies further reveal that the α pores, which contain nitrophenyl rings, quench the emission of HOFTPE4N. This emission can be turned on by breaking the α pores in the HOFs by grinding the sample. Temperature-dependent emission studies demonstrate that the emission quenching of HOFTPE4N is attributed to the intramolecular rotations of nitro-substituted phenyl units within the space of the α pores. These results clearly reveal AIE by controlling the intramolecular rotations, which can serve as a basis for developing mechanoluminescent materials.

Graphical abstract: The HOF structures of nitrotetraphenylethene derivatives provide new insights into the nature of AIE and a way to design mechanoluminescent materials

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
19 Jul 2016
Accepted
02 Sep 2016
First published
02 Sep 2016
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2017,8, 1163-1168

The HOF structures of nitrotetraphenylethene derivatives provide new insights into the nature of AIE and a way to design mechanoluminescent materials

T. Yu, D. Ou, Z. Yang, Q. Huang, Z. Mao, J. Chen, Y. Zhang, S. Liu, J. Xu, M. R. Bryce and Z. Chi, Chem. Sci., 2017, 8, 1163 DOI: 10.1039/C6SC03177C

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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