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Multiregulated color and fluorescence of a cyanostilbene-based AIEgen by light and pH

氰基苯乙烯基聚集诱导发光材料在光和pH调控下的多颜色和荧光转换

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Abstract

Stimuli-responsive aggregation-induced emission (AIE) materials with regulated color and fluorescence have shown promising applications in smart optical systems, while most of them are only regulated by a single stimulus. Herein, a cyanostilbene-based fluorophore (Z-BDPA) with AIE enhancement properties is elaborately designed, which exhibits multiple regulable color and fluorescence owing to its various photochemical reactions and reversible pH response. After exposure to 420 nm light, the green emission of Z-BDPA in tetrahydrofuran (THF) becomes brighter owing to the Z→E isomerization, which can be recovered under 365 nm irradiation; the yellow fluorescence of Z-BDPA in THF/H2O mixtures with 90% water fraction (fw) becomes stronger yellow-green fluorescence due to the photodimerization. At acidic conditions, Z-BDPA powder with yellow fluorescence can become another AIEgen Z-p-BDPA with blue fluorescence via protonation, which would be recovered through deprotonation under basic conditions. Under ultraviolet light irradiation, the blue fluorescence of Z-p-BDPA is blue-shifted and increased due to the photo-isomerization and subsequent photocyclodehydrogenation reactions. Based on the regulable color and fluorescence upon the photochemical and pH responses, Z-BDPA has been successfully applied in photo-patterning and anti-counterfeiting.

摘要

本文精心设计了一种具有聚集诱导发光增强特性的氰基苯乙烯 基荧光团(Z-BDPA), 由于其具有各种光化学反应和可逆的pH响应而呈现出多种可调节的颜色和荧光. 在420 nm光照射下, Z-BDPA在四氢呋喃(THF)中发生Z→E异构化, 其绿色荧光增强, 该过程在365 nm光照射下可恢复; 由于发生光二聚化过程, Z-BDPA在水含量(fw)为90%的THF/ H2O混合体系中的黄色荧光变为更强的黄绿色荧光. 在酸性条件下, 具有黄色荧光的Z-BDPA粉末通过质子化过程变为具有蓝色荧光的AIE荧光团Z-p-BDPA, 该过程可通过在碱性条件下的去质子化作用恢复. 在365 nm光照射下, Z-p-BDPA的蓝色荧光由于光异构化过程和随后的光环脱氢反应而蓝移且增强. 基于其对于光化学反应和pH响应而呈现出的可调控的颜色和荧光, Z-BDPA可成功应用于光图案化和防伪.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51373025) and the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-11-0582).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Weihua Luo  (罗玮华), Xingtang Xu  (徐兴堂), Yiyuan Tang  (唐艺源), Zhen Wu  (吴振) & Guojie Wang  (王国杰)

Authors
  1. Weihua Luo  (罗玮华)
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  2. Xingtang Xu  (徐兴堂)
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  3. Yiyuan Tang  (唐艺源)
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  4. Zhen Wu  (吴振)
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  5. Guojie Wang  (王国杰)
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Contributions

Author contributions Luo W conducted all experiments and writing. Wang G conceived the project and revised the paper. All authors contributed to the general discussion.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guojie Wang  (王国杰).

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Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Supplementary information Supporting data are available in the online version of the paper. Crystallographic data for the structural analyses of Z-BDPA have been deposited with the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre bearing the CCDC Nos. 2168298 (deposit@ccdc.cam.ac.uk).

Weihua Luo received her MSc degree from the Northwest University in 2018. Now she is studying for her PhD degree in Prof. Wang’s group at the University of Science and Technology Beijing. Her research interest focuses on the construction and applications of stimuli-responsive fluorescent materials with AIE characteristics.

Guojie Wang received his PhD degree in polymer chemistry and physics from Jilin University in 2000. Then he worked as a post-doctor at Tsinghua University. In 2002, he joined the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 2005, he joined Georgia Institute of Technology. In 2006, he moved to Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. In 2008, he joined the University of Science and Technology Beijing. His research interest focuses on photoswitches and fluorescent materials.

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Luo, W., Xu, X., Tang, Y. et al. Multiregulated color and fluorescence of a cyanostilbene-based AIEgen by light and pH. Sci. China Mater. 66, 1180–1188 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-022-2215-1

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