We report a series of mechanofluorochromic (MFC) compounds based on organoboron complexes with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics. We synthesized a variety of boron ketoiminates and investigated the effect of the substituents on the optical properties by altering the end groups in the compounds. The synthesized boron ketoiminates showed AIE properties and MFC behavior. Interestingly, the hypsochromic and bathochromic shifts of the emission bands individually observed for boron ketoiminates depended on the chemical structures of the end groups. From the X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry analyses, it was confirmed that the MFC property of boron ketoiminates should be derived from a phase transition between crystalline and amorphous states. In addition, the direction of the peak shifts of the emission bands was controlled by the degree of steric hindrance of the end group.

This paper presents the aggregation-induced emission (AIE) properties of o-carborane derivatives and proposes a potential strategy for constructing AIE-active organoboron complexes via the enhancement of freedom of intramolecular mobility. Initially, the optical properties of o-carborane derivatives with or without the fused ring structure at the C-C bond in o-carborane in which elongation should be induced by photo-excitation according to theoretical calculations were compared. Accordingly, it was shown that large mobility at the C-C bond in o-carborane should be responsible for the annihilation of emission in solution, leading to the AIE property. From this result, it was presumed that by enhancing the freedom of intramolecular mobility in conventional luminescent organoboron complexes, the deactivation of the excited state in solution and emission recovery in the aggregate can be induced. Based on this idea, we have performed several studies and introduce two representative results. Firstly, the decrease in luminescent properties of boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) in solution by introducing a movable functional group is explained. Next, the AIE behaviors of boron ketoiminates and the potential mechanism concerning conformational changes for the deactivation of the excited state in the solution state are illustrated. It is proposed that enhancement of the freedom of mobility in the excited state of luminescent organoboron complexes could be a potential strategy for realizing AIE behaviors.

Mechanochromic luminescent molecules often suffer from critical loss of luminescence intensity during phase transitions in the solid state. In this study, we present mechanochromic luminescent molecules that can provide clear color changes with constant emission intensity during phase transitions. It was reported that the class of aggregation‐induced emission (AIE)‐active boron complexes can present intense emission by freezing intramolecular motions. According to this mechanism, we designed a complex with a fused ligand to preserve the enhanced emission in the aggregated state in the AIE during phase transitions between the solution, amorphous, and crystalline states. From optical measurements, it was shown that the synthesized boron complexes present bright emission in various phases. In particular, as we expected, the luminescence color was clearly altered during phase transition, whereas the emission intensity changed only slightly. Finally, we also found that diverse luminescence colors were obtained from each polymorph and for various substituents as induced by the substituent effect. The results in the series of mechanistic studies show that electronic interactions and π–π interactions can modulate the electronic conjugation system of the complexes without causing loss of emission efficiency.