The
development of molecular machines has long been a dream of
scientists and is expected to revolutionize many aspects of technology
and medicine. As the prerequisite of a practicable molecular machine,
studies on the solid-state molecular motion (SSMM) are not only of
scientific importance but also practically useful. Herein, two nonconjugated
molecules, 1,2-diphenylethane (s-DPE) and 1,2-bis(2,4,5-trimethylphenyl)ethane
(s-DPE-TM), are synthesized, and their SSMM is investigated.
Experimental and calculation results reveal that s-DPE and s-DPE-TM are capable of performing light-driven
SSMM to form excited-state through-space complexes (ESTSC). The radiative
decay of ESTSC generates an unexpected visible emission termed clusteroluminescence,
which serves as a tool to visualize the process of SSMM. Meanwhile,
the original packing structure can be recovered from ESTSC after the
removal of light irradiation. This work provides a new strategy to
manipulate and “see” the SSMM and gains new insights
into clusteroluminescence.
Interfaces exist in almost all objects and processes. Investigation on the interface not only is fundamentally important but also has great application prospects. Traditionally, the interface structure is studied by electron microscopy, which cannot reflect its real structure considering the pretreated process before measurement. Monitoring the interface evolution process by these regular methods is time-consuming and unfeasible in many cases. In this perspective article, we discuss how to realize the visualizing and monitoring interface structures and dynamics by aggregation-induced emission technique, which is applicable to almost all kinds of interfaces, including gas-solid, liquid-solid, solid-solid, gas-liquid-solid, and liquid-liquid-solid. Meanwhile, it is anticipated that the circularly polarized luminescence property in prochiral aggregation-induced emission luminogens can make a great difference in this area.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.