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A novel gold-catalyzed cycloisomerization/[2 + 1]cycloaddition/rearrangement of enyne-amides and sulfur ylides is reported. This strategy enables rapid and efficient construction of a series of α-pyrone derivatives.

Multiwavelength-controlled multicolor photochromism and fluorescence switching were achieved by introducing two photoactive subunits with varied conjugation into the tetraarylethene skeleton with aggregation-induced emission.

Efficient and fast scintillators are in high demand for a variety of fields, such as medical diagnostics, scientific instruments, and high-energy physics. However, the trade-off between high scintillation efficiency and fast timing properties is a common challenge faced by almost all scintillators. To overcome this limitation, we have developed a new strategy for organic scintillators by directing all hot excitons into fast singlet emission states without involving the lowest triplet states. Our scintillator 1,1,2,2-tetraphenylethylene (4-bromophenyl) (TPE-4Br) shows an ultrafast radiative lifetime of 1.79 ns and ~ 72600 photons MeV− 1 light yield, exhibiting an unprecedented combination of high light yield and short decay time. Our work provides a paradigm-shifting method to design efficient and ultrafast scintillators and paves the way towards exciting applications toward ultrafast detection and imaging.

Nonconjugated clusteroluminogens (CLgens) become increasingly important in photophysics and advanced bioelectronic applications. Most CLgens show ultraviolet emission, and it remains an enormous challenge to change the electronic structures of CLgens to improve their photophysical properties by precisely regulating the intramolecular through-space interactions (TSI). Herein we propose a general strategy to construct a higher-level intramolecular TSI in multiaryl-substituted alkanes, namely the secondary through-space interaction (2nd TSI), which is constructed by the primary through-space interaction (1st TSI) and TSI linker. By introducing methyl and phenyl into 1,1,3,3-tetraphenylpropane (TPP) respectively, butane-1,1,3,3-tetrayltetrabenzene (Me-TPP) and propane-1,1,1,3,3-pentaylpentabenzene (Ph-TPP) both show bright visible clusteroluminescence (CL), whose fluorescence quantum yield is up to ~40% and the emission wavelength extends to 530 nm. Advanced theoretical studies relating to their emission mechanism are quantitatively performed to analyze the photophysical properties of these CLgens in different states. It is found that molecular rigidity and proper conformation both play pivotal roles in improving the 1st TSI, enhancing the TSI linker and constructing 2nd TSI. Experimental and calculation results prove that the hierarchical TSIs and CL have been successfully regulated in these multiaryl-substituted alkanes (MAAs). This work not only provides a feasible strategy to achieve controllable manipulation of TSI and CL but also paves the way to the in-depth mechanistic understanding of CL.

Nowadays, continuous efforts have been devoted to searching highly efficient electrochemiluminescence (ECL) emitters for applications in clinical diagnosis and food safety. In this work, triazinyl-based hydrogen bond organic frameworks (Tr-HOFs) were synthesized by N···H hydrogen bond self-assembly aggregation, where 6,6'-(1,4-phenylene)bis(1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine) (phenyDAT) was prepared

Restriction of intramolecular motions of AIEgens is greatly intensified by introducing dynamic metal coordination bonds to achieve dramatic fluorescence enhancement, which provides a simple and effective way to dramatically improve the emission efficiency of AIEgens. AIEgen-based metal complexes have an abnormal anti-heavy-atom effect, which contributes to their high emission efficiencies without changing their emission nature.

It is extremely challenging but desirable to regulate the photophysical and photochemical processes of aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) in distinct states in a controllable manner. Herein, we design two groups of AIEgens based on a triphenylacrylonitrile (TPAN) skeleton with through-space conjugation (TSC) property, demonstrate controlled regulation of photophysical emission efficiency/color and photochemical photochromic and photoactivatable fluorescence behaviours of these compounds, and further validate design principles to achieve highly efficient and emission-tuning AIEgens and to accomplish photo-dependent color switches and fluorescence changes. It is surprisingly found that the introduction of heavy halogens like bromine into a TPAN skeleton dramatically enhances the emission efficiency, and such an abnormal phenomenon against the heavy-atom effect is attributed to the specific through-space conjugation nature of the AIE-active skeleton, effective intermolecular halogen-bond-induced restriction of intramolecular motions, and heavy atom-induced vibration reduction. The incorporation of two electron-donating amino groups into the TPAN skeleton cause the luminogens to undergo a bathochromic shifted emission due to the formation of a D–A pattern. Apart from the regulation of photophysical processes in the solid state, the construction of the D–A pattern in luminogens also results in extremely different photochemical reactions accompanying reversible/irreversible photochromism and photoactivatable fluorescence phenomena in a dispersed state. It is revealed that photo-triggered cyclization and decyclization reactions dominantly contribute to reversible photochromism of the TPAN family, and the photo-induced cyclization–dehydrogenation reaction is responsible for the irreversible color changes and photoactivatable fluorescence behaviours of the NTPAN family. The demonstrations of multiple-mode signaling in photoswitchable patterning and information encryption highlight the importance of controlled regulation of photophysics and photochemistry of fused chromic and AIE-active luminogens in distinct states., Highly efficient aggregation-induced emission, reversible and irreversible photochromism are achieved by regulating heavy halogen-regulated photophysics and D–A molecular pattern-controlled photochemistry of through-space conjugated luminogens.

Spatial and temporal monitoring of bioactive targets such as calcium ions is vitally significant for their essential roles in physiological and biochemical functions. Herein, we proposed an esterase-activated precipitating strategy to achieve highly specific identification and long-term bioimaging of calcium ions via lighting up the calcium ions by precipitation using a water-soluble aggregation-induced phosphorescence (AIP) probe. The designed probe CaP2 has an AIP behavior and can be efficiently aggregated by calcium ions through the coupling coordination of carboxylic acid and cyanide groups, which enables it to light up Ca

Long-term

Solution process is a key technique for the manufacture of large-area and low-cost semiconducting devices and, thus, attracts a lot of attention from both academia and industry. Herein, we realized solution-processed light-emitting diodes (excluding a cathode) based on aggregation-induced emission (AIE) molecules of tetraphenylethylene-4Cl (TPE-4Cl) and cadimum-free semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) for the first time. By mixing Cu-In-Zn-S NCs and TPE-4Cl as an emissive layer, a new type of environmentally friendly white-light-emitting diodes (WLEDs) was prepared through a solution-processed technique. After systematical optimization of the as-prepared WLEDs, the corresponding color rendering index can reach up to 87 with a maximum luminance of 262 cd/ m 2 . This study may pave a new road to realize AIE-based WLEDs through a solution-processed technique.