Multiple yet switchable hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks with white-light emission

Authors：Shi, Yadong; Wang, Shuodong; Tao, Wei; Guo, Jingjing; Xie, Sheng; Ding, Yanglan; Xu, Guoyong; Chen, Cheng; Sun, Xiaoyu; Zhang, Zengming; He, Zikai; Wei, Peifa^*; Tang, Ben Zhong^*

Source：Nature Communications, 2022, 13(1): 1882.

DOI：10.1038/s41467-022-29565-1

• AGGREGATION-INDUCED EMISSION
• CRYSTAL
• POROSITY
• COMPOUND
• NETWORKS
• FLUORESCENCE
• STORAGE
• WATER

The development of new strategies to construct on-demand porous lattice frameworks from simple motifs is desirable. However, mitigating complexity while combing multiplicity and reversibility in the porous architectures is a challenging task. Herein, based on the synergy of dynamic intermolecular interactions and flexible molecular conformation of a simple cyano-modified tetraphenylethylene tecton, eleven kinetic-stable hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) with various shapes and two thermo-stable non-porous structures with rare perpendicular conformation are obtained. Multimode reversible structural transformations along with visible fluorescence output between porous and non-porous or between different porous forms is realized under different external stimuli. Furthermore, the collaborative of flexible framework and soft long-chain guests facilitate the relaxation from intrinsic blue emission to yellow emission in the excited state, which represents a strategy for generating white-light emission. The dynamic intermolecular interactions, facilitated by flexible molecular conformation and soft guests, diversifies the strategies of construction of versatile smart molecular frameworks. @@@ Switchable hydrogen-bonded frameworks have potential applications in the development of smart materials. Herein, the authors report eleven hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks and two non-porous structures that can undergo reversible structural and fluorescence switching; white-light emission is enabled.