Donor-acceptor type NIR dithienylethene with aggregation-induced emission for multi-state photochromic behavior

摘要

Near-infrared (NIR) photochromic materials, especially with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) features, have lately aroused great research interest for their wide application potential in the fields of functional biomaterials and optical electronics. In this contribution, a new donor-acceptor-type (D-A-type) dithienylethene (TDC) appended by triphenylethene and dicyanovinyl fragments at both ends of dithienylethene was rationally constructed and prepared. The chemical structure of TDC has been well analyzed by HRMS (ESI), 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and XRD. TDC displayed NIR-like photochromic properties with strong fatigue resistance in toluene, THF and 1,4-dioxane when exposed to UV/NIR light. The ring-open isomer TDC (o) showed typical luminescent and AIElike behaviors in the solid state before illumination with UV light. Furthermore, effective photochromic properties and fluorescent switching behavior was observed in the solid and aggregated states. Interestingly, TDC displayed unexpected aggregation-controlled photochromism in the mixtures of H2O/DMSO. Accordingly, TDC represents a new multi-state NIR photochromic dithienylethene and can be further applied in smart optoelectronics and functional biomaterials.

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