We studied the UV-vis absorption and fluorescence in solution/solid states of [n]cycloparaphenylene ([n]CPP: n = 9, 12, 14, 15, and 16), and conducted theoretical studies to better understand the experimental results. The representative experimental findings include (i) the most intense absorption maxima (λ(abs1)) display remarkably close values (338-339 nm), (ii) the longest-wavelength absorption maxima (λ(abs2)) are blue-shifted with increasing the ring size (395 → 365 nm), (iii) the emission maxima (λ(em)) are blue-shifted with increasing the ring size (494 → 438 nm for longest-wavelength maxima), (iv) the fluorescent quantum yields (Φ(F)) in solution are high (0.73-0.90), (v) the fluorescence lifetimes (τ(s)) of [9]- and [12]CPP are 10.6 and 2.2 ns, respectively, and (vi) the Φ(F) values slightly increase in polymer matrix but significantly decrease in the crystalline state. According to TD-DFT calculations, the longest-wavelength absorption (λ(abs2)) corresponds to a forbidden HOMO → LUMO transition and the most intense absorption (λ(abs1)) corresponds to degenerate HOMO - 1 → LUMO and HOMO → LUMO + 1 transitions with high oscillator strength. The interesting and counterintuitive optical properties of CPPs (constant λ(abs1) and blue shift of λ(abs2)) could be ascribed mainly to the ring-size effect in frontier molecular orbitals (in particular the increase of the HOMO-LUMO gap as the number of benzene rings increases). On the basis of comparative calculations using hypothetical model geometries, we conclude that the unique behavior of HOMO and LUMO of CPPs is due mainly to their lack of a conjugation length dependence in combination with a significant bending effect (particularly to HOMO) and a torsion effect (particularly to LUMO).

Ladder pi-conjugated compounds, which have fully ring-fused polycyclic skeletons, are an important class of materials possessing significant potentials for application in organic electronics. The incorporation of main-group elements, such as B, Si, P, S, and Se, into the ladder skeletons as bridging moieties is a powerful strategy to endow unusual electronic structures as well as suitable molecular arrangements in the solid state, giving rise to attractive photophysical and electronic properties. Recent efforts have produced a number of fascinating ladder materials, some of which indeed showed high performance as light-emitting materials and charge carrier transporting materials. This Focus Review is an overview of the progress in this chemistry, focusing on several important pi-conjugated skeletons.

Electron-donating aryl groups were attached to electron-accepting benzophosphole skeletons. Among several derivatives thus prepared, one benzophosphole oxide was particularly interesting, as it retained high fluorescence quantum yields even in polar and protic solvents. This phosphole-based compound exhibited a drastic color change of its fluorescence spectrum as a function of the solvent polarity, while the absorption spectra remained virtually unchanged. Capitalizing on these features, this phosphole-based compound was used to stain adipocytes, in which the polarity of subcellular compartments could then be discriminated on the basis of the color change of the fluorescence emission.

As stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy can provide structural details of cells with an optical resolution beyond the diffraction limit, it has become an indispensable tool in cell biology. However, the intense STED laser beam usually causes rapid photobleaching of the employed fluorescent dyes, which significantly limits the utility of STED microscopy from a practical perspective. Herein we report a new design of super-photostable dye, PhoxBright 430 (PB430), comprising a fully ring-fused π-conjugated skeleton with an electron-accepting phosphole P-oxide unit. We previously developed a super-photostable dye C-Naphox by combining the phosphole unit with an electron-donating triphenylamine moiety. In PB430, removal of the amino group alters the transition type from intramolecular charge transfer character to π-π* transition character, which gives rise to intense fluorescence insensitive to molecular environment in terms of fluorescence colors and intensity, and bright fluorescence even in aqueous media. PB430 also furnishes high solubility in water, and is capable of labeling proteins with maintaining high fluorescence quantum yields. This dye exhibits outstanding resistance to photoirradiation even under the STED conditions and allows continuous acquisition of STED images. Indeed, using a PB430-conjugated antibody, we succeed in attaining a 3-D reconstruction of super-resolution STED images as well as photostability-based multicolor STED imaging of fluorescently labeled cytoskeletal structures.

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Bis-phosphoryl-bridged stilbenes have been synthesized using an intramolecular cascade cyclization. They show intense blue fluorescences at longer wavelengths with higher quantum yields compared to those of the known element-bridged stilbenes. In addition, they have much lower reduction potentials due to the inductive effect of phosphoryl groups. The incorporation of the phosphoryl moiety is an effective way for the construction of highly electron-accepting pi-conjugated systems.

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An amine-embedded flexible alkyl strap has been incorporated into an emissive boryl-substituted dithienylpyrrole skeleton as a new entity of excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) chromophores. The π-electron system shows a dual emission, which covers a wide range of the visible region depending on the solvent polarity. The incorporation of the aminoalkyl strap as well as the terminal boryl groups efficiently stabilize the zwitterionic excited-state species resulting from the ESIPT even in an aqueous medium.