Issue 20, 2018

Deciphering the working mechanism of aggregation-induced emission of tetraphenylethylene derivatives by ultrafast spectroscopy

Abstract

Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) is the long-sought solution to the problem of aggregation-caused quenching that has hampered efficient application of fluorescent organic materials. An important goal on the way to fully understand the working mechanism of the AIE process was, for more than a decade, and still remains obtaining more comprehensive insights into the correlation between the ultrafast excited-state dynamics in tetraphenylethylene (TPE)-based molecules and the AIE effect in them. Here we report a number of TPE-based derivatives with varying structural rigidities and AIE properties. Using a combination of ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopy and computational studies, we observe a direct correlation between the state-dependent coupling motions and inhibited fluorescence, and prove the existence of photocyclized intermediates in them. We demonstrate that the dominant non-radiative relaxation dynamics, i.e. formation of intermediate or rotation around the elongated C[double bond, length as m-dash]C bond, is responsible for the AIE effect, which is strongly structure-dependent but not related to structural rigidity.

Graphical abstract: Deciphering the working mechanism of aggregation-induced emission of tetraphenylethylene derivatives by ultrafast spectroscopy

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
13 Mar 2018
Accepted
24 Apr 2018
First published
24 Apr 2018
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., 2018,9, 4662-4670

Deciphering the working mechanism of aggregation-induced emission of tetraphenylethylene derivatives by ultrafast spectroscopy

Y. Cai, L. Du, K. Samedov, X. Gu, F. Qi, H. H. Y. Sung, B. O. Patrick, Z. Yan, X. Jiang, H. Zhang, J. W. Y. Lam, I. D. Williams, D. Lee Phillips, A. Qin and B. Z. Tang, Chem. Sci., 2018, 9, 4662 DOI: 10.1039/C8SC01170B

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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