‘Light‐Up’ AIE‐Active Materials: Self‐Assembly, Molecular Recognition and Catalytic Applications

Abstract

Aggregation induced emission enhancement (AIEE) is one of the most widely explored phenomena to develop ‘light up’ (fluorescent) materials having potential applications in the field of supramolecular chemistry, analytical chemistry and material chemistry. By applying the principles of host‐guest chemistry, we have developed a variety of aggregation induced emission (AIE/AEE) active materials having specific affinity for metal ions, electron deficient/electron rich analytes. The interactions between AIE active assemblies and metal ions are further tuned to prepare nanohybrids having potential applications as catalytic/photocatalytic systems in various organic transformations under eco‐friendly conditions. This account summarizes various design strategies developed in our labortary for the preparation of AIE/AEE active building blocks having sensing and catalytic applications.

Emerging Designs of Aggregation-Induced Emission Agents for Enhanced Phototherapy Applications

“…[15][16][17][18][19] The AIE agents are almost non-emissive in the isolated molecular state but strongly emissive in the aggregate form. [20][21][22] This phenomenon is due to the restriction of intramolecular motion (RIM) of AIE agents in the aggregated state, which avoids the nonradiative decay that dissipates the absorbed light, and thus leads to the enhanced fluorescence emissions. 23,24 Meanwhile, the non-planar structure of AIE agents also contributes to circumventing π-π interactions and activates strong emission in aggregated state.…”

Self-sorting assembly of artificial building blocks

“…For a long period, scientists focused on mixtures and co-assemblies of small molecules, polymers, and colloidal structures, 10–13 but much less attention has been paid to the self-sorting assembly of artificial building blocks, though it may help to unravel the secret of living beings and also build more complicated reaction systems. Meanwhile, the nano- or microstructures with various architectures and functions 14–17 can nowadays be routinely fabricated via different interactions, 18–20 and applied in numerous fields, such as medicine delivery, 21 catalysts, 22 micro-reactors, 23 and so on. Therefore, to integrate the properties and advantages from different functional nanostructures, self-sorting assembly might be a potential and promising approach.…”

Triangular Topological 2D Covalent Organic Frameworks Constructed via Symmetric or Asymmetric “Two‐in‐One” Type Monomers

“…In addition, several synthetic routes to prepare HPB derivatives are available, such as Diels−Alder reaction, cyclotrimerization of diphenylacetylenes, and Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reaction. [ 18 ] Among them, cyclotrimerization of asymmetric functionalized diphenylacetylenes can form two isomers, i.e., the C 3 ‐ symmetric 1,3,5‐substituted isomer and the asymmetric 1,2,4‐substituted counterpart. The asymmetric 1,2,4‐substituted isomer could be considered as position exchange between sites 3 and 5 and between sites 2 and 4 of the highly symmetric 1,3,5‐substituted isomer, which meets the aforementioned desymmetry strategy by altering the positions of the branches (Scheme 1d).…”