Chiral TPE Foldamers in Macrocycles: Aggregation Enhanced Emission and Circularly Polarized Luminescence

• Published in: Chemistry : a European journal 2023-12, Vol.29 (68), p.e202302373-n/a
• Main Authors: Wang, Yuxiang, Cui, Liwen, Wang, Yiran, Li, Fei, Li, Yunzhi, Meng, Qi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: aggregation enhanced emission; Chemistry; chiral macrocycle; Circular polarization; circularly polarized luminescence; Conformation; Emission; Fluorescence; Immobilization; Luminescence; Rigid structures; tetraphenylethylene foldamer
• ISSN: 0947-6539; 1521-3765
• DOI: 10.1002/chem.202302373

Chiral macrocycles with circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) have attracted increasing attention due to the rigid structure, symmetrical chiral geometry and large luminescence dissymmetry factors (glum). However, most chiral macrocycles are more emissive in solutions but have weakened fluorescence quantum yields (ΦF) in aggregates, limiting their further application. In this paper, chiral macrocycle R/S‐PhTPE was synthesized by combining chiral macrocycle architectonics with Z‐o‐phenyltetraphenylethylene (PhTPE) foldamer. Enhanced solution state emission and characteristic aggregation enhanced emission (AEE) effect can be observed for R/S‐PhTPE due to the folded PhTPE conformation. Macrocycle immobilization and folded conformation endow PhTPE moiety with stable helical conformation. Most importantly, R/S‐PhTPE exhibits opposite CPL signals compared with common chiral TPEs, demonstrating the evident impact of folded conformation. This work reports the first and deep insights into the chiroptical properties of chiral PhTPE foldamers, and will provide a new strategy to tune ΦF and CPL signals of AIE active chiral macrocycles. Chiral TPE foldamers were first constructed through macrocycle architectonics and the chiroptical properties were investigated. Aggregation enhanced emission and unusual circularly polarized luminescence can be discovered due to the folded conformation.