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Self-assembly of a photoluminescent metal-organic cage and its spontaneous aggregation in dilute solutions enabling time-dependent emission enhancement

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An Erratum to this article was published on 12 December 2022

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Abstract

Charged metal-organic cages generally produce aggregates with various morphologies and different properties through the multiple supramolecular interactions in solution. Herein, a luminescent hexahedral metal-organic cage containing pyrene chromophores is successfully constructed through coordination-driven subcomponent self-assembly. The cage exhibits novel spontaneous aggregation in a dilute solution and time-dependent luminescence enhancement behavior during the subsequent incubation process. Dynamic light scatter (DLS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results prove that the metal-organic cages can form blackberry-like aggregates in methanol dilute solution. Unexpectedly, the luminescent intensity of this system shows a linear increase with the extension of the incubation time in methanol, and this process is also reflected in the change in the quantum yield of the system (2% to over 80% after 5 days incubation time). Ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis), 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) and mass spectra show that metal-organic cages can stably exist in dilute solution. Time-depended DLS and TEM data reveal that the aggregates of metal-organic cages are gradually changed from the dense state to the loose one, which may involve the transition of the system from an energy unstable state to a stable one, probably leading to the unusual time-dependent luminescent property. This unique time-dependent luminescent cage aggregate can be potentially applied as a “supramolecular time meter”.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Guangdong Major Project of Basic and Applied Research (2019B030302009), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22171106, 21731002, 21975104, 21871172), the Guangzhou Science and Technology Program (202002030411), and Jinan University.

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  1. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Supramolecular Coordination Materials and Applications, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China

    Dong Luo, Le-Xiong Wu, Yan Zhang, Xue-Ling Chen, Xiao-Ping Zhou & Dan Li

  2. Department of Chemistry, Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, 515041, China

    Yong-Liang Huang

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  1. Dong Luo
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Correspondence to Xiao-Ping Zhou.

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Self-assembly of a photoluminescent metal-organic cage and its spontaneous aggregation in dilute solutions enabling time-dependent emission enhancement

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Luo, D., Wu, LX., Zhang, Y. et al. Self-assembly of a photoluminescent metal-organic cage and its spontaneous aggregation in dilute solutions enabling time-dependent emission enhancement. Sci. China Chem. 65, 1105–1111 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-022-1245-1

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