Giant Truncated Metallo-Tetrahedron with Unexpected Supramolecular Aggregation Induced Emission Enhancement

• Published in: Journal of the American Chemical Society 2020-04, Vol.142 (17), p.7987-7994
• Main Authors: Liu, Die, Chen, Mingzhao, Li, Kaixiu, Li, Zhengguang, Huang, Jian, Wang, Jun, Jiang, Zhilong, Zhang, Zhe, Xie, Tingzheng, Newkome, George R, Wang, Pingshan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0002-7863; 1520-5126
• DOI: 10.1021/jacs.0c02366

The artificial synthesis of giant, three-dimensional, and shell-like architectures with growing complexity and novel functionalities is an especially challenging task for chemists. Fullerenes and self-assembled cages are remarkable examples that are proven milestones in the field of functional materials. Herein, we present another unique system: a giant terpyridine-based truncated metallo-tetrahedral architecture that includes densely-packed ionic pairs with a significant internal cavity. This huge metallo-tetrahedron with a molecular weight up to 70 000 Da was self-assembled simultaneously with 64 components: 12 large antler-shaped ligands (5), 4 star-shaped ligands (6), and 48 Cd2+ ions. Surprisingly, the giant tetrahedron shows broad visible emission (400–640 nm) and aggregation induced emission enhancement (AIEE) via a hierarchical assembly into highly-ordered nanoaggregates. A tunable emission color and near white-light emission in mixed solvent systems were also achieved. The present work not only affords an effective approach to the creation of giant shell-like architectures that can be used to mimic biological viruses and chemical frameworks but also provides a new class of functional metallo-architectures.