A surfactant-assisted unimolecular platform for multicolor emissions

Abstract

We present here a simple molecular assembly approach to multicolor emissions based on a unimolecular platform of a terthiophene-containing amphiphile TTC4L. The amphiphiles self-assemble into vesicles in solution which exhibit a blue emission. Upon controlling the distance between the fluorescent terthiophene groups by transformation of the self-assembly of TTC4L molecules into their co-assembly with surfactants, the color of the emissions can be continuously tailored which covers most of the visible region. Since the multi-colors were obtained without any structural modification on the fluorescent molecules, we have demonstrated a real unimolecular platform for fabricating multicolor emissions. In contrast, only dual emissions can be obtained from TTC4L using host–guest chemistry. As a simple approach of ‘tunable emissions’, this surfactant-assisted unimolecular platform opens a new vista for the application of molecular assemblies in advanced light emitting materials.