Synthesis, Aggregation-Induced Emission, and Liquid Crystalline Structure of Tetraphenylethylene–Surfactant Complex via Ionic Self-Assembly

Abstract

A novel tetraphenylethylene material with liquid crystalline (LC) helical structure and aggregationinduced emission (AIE) property was prepared by ionic selfassembly (ISA). The AIE activity, phase behavior, selfassembly structure, and molecular packing behavior of the complex were then elucidated via a combination of different experimental techniques such as UV−vis absorption spectra, photoluminescence spectra, differential scanning calorimetry, polarized optical microscopy, one-and two-dimensional X-ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The experimental results reveal that the ISA complex possesses high-efficiency luminescent property with quantum yield as high as 46% in solid state. Meanwhile, the complex could self-assemble into different interesting structures which are sensitive to peripheral chain motions. During heating, the complex takes a low-ordered helical supramolecular structure at ambient temperature and then forms another LC phase with high-ordered helical molecular stacking. These ordered hierarchical structures, in combination with the liquid crystallinity and excellent AIE property of the ISA complex, make it a promising material for fabrication of luminescent devices.

Ionic Self‐Assembled Derivative of Tetraphenylethylene: Synthesis, Enhanced Solid‐State Emission, Liquid‐Crystalline Structure, and Cu2+ Detection Ability

“…At 80 °C, there are at least six diffractions in the low‐ q region that cannot be indexed easily. In the high‐ q region, a sharp diffraction at q =13.5 ( d spacing of 0.47 nm) overlapping with an amorphous halo can be identified, which implies the highly ordered packing arrangement of ETTC cores and the disordered packing of alkyl chains . Cooling the sample to 30 °C leads to the disappearance of the sharp diffraction at q =13.5, which indicates that the highly ordered arrangement of ETTC cores is largely destroyed.…”

“…On the meridian, there is a pair of relatively strong arcs overlapped with a diffuse ring in the high‐angle region. Notably, the corresponding d spacing of 0.47 nm typical of that between the stacked TPE cores; this set of arcs overlapping with a diffuse ring suggests that the ETTC cores are stacked parallel to each other, while the peripheral chains are disordered. Moreover, another pair of culminant arcs in the low‐angle region cannot be neglected.…”

“…However, there are few reports on the fabrication of ISA materials with AIE properties . Recently, we presented a facile strategy to synthesize a novel TPE derivative through ISA . With this strategy, pure TPE–DOAB (DOAB=dimethyldioctadecylammonium bromide) complex (Figure S1 in the Supporting Information) with a liquid‐crystalline structure and AIE properties could be obtained in high yield.…”

The Effect of Bulky Substituents on Two π-Conjugated Mesogenic Fluorophores. Their Organic Polymers and Zinc-Bridged Luminescent Networks

“…In the nematic phase, C1b and C2b are luminescent liquid crystals (LLCs), showing intrinsic light emission and supramolecular organization [58,59]. In the field of optoelectronic applications, the cutting-edge technology is represented by the incorporation of luminophores into liquid crystal matrix to prepare Photoluminescent Liquid Crystal Displays (PLLCDs) or for optical temperature sensing systems [60,61]. Dye solubility in the LC host matrix is one of the main limits.…”

Deep‐Blue OLED Fabrication from Heptazine Columnar Liquid Crystal Based AIE‐Active Sky‐Blue Emitter

“…To date, there are only very few reports of AIE luminogens which exhibit liquid crystalline phases . In this context, we reported AIE and electroluminescence (EL) behaviour of columnar LC material Hpz‐3C12 based on the s‐heptazine discotic core which shows deep‐blue emission in OLEDs.…”