How temperature and hydrostatic pressure impact organic room temperature phosphorescence from H-aggregation of planar triarylboranes and the application in bioimaging

Highly efficient persistent organic room temperature phosphorescence(RTP) has attracted increasing attention because of promising applications in fields of chemical sensors, optoelectronic devices, information security, and bioimaging, etc. Wherein,the crystal engineering of H-aggregation offers stabilization for long-lived triplet exciton for RTP, but the related research is rare because of the scarcity of ideal phosphorescent H-aggregate. Herein, we designed planar tricoordinate organoboron derivatives with molecular arrangement in ideal H-aggregation. The integration of Br atom can largely enhance RTP efficiency through increasing SOC effect, while the antiparallel molecular arrangement causes annihilation of triplet exciton. Thanks to good selfassembly property, their RTP can even be observed in PMMA matrix with doping ratio of merely 1 wt%. We further found that the cryogenic temperature contributes to stabilizing triplet exciton in H-aggregation, leading to red-shifted phosphorescence. By applying high hydrostatic pressure, the phosphorescence was largely enhanced and redshifted, demonstrating the crucial role of H-aggregation on RTP property. In phosphorescent tissue imaging of live mouse, nanoparticles of BrBA exhibited high contrast image via eliminating the interference of autofluorescence.

H-and J-aggregation of conjugated small molecules in organic solar cells

As H-and J-aggregation receive more and more attention in the research of organic solar cells(OSCs),especially in small molecular systems,deep understanding of aggregation behavior is needed to guide the design of conjugated small molecular structure and the fabrication process of OSC device.For this end,this review is written.Here,the review firstly introduced the basic information about H-and J-aggregation of conjugated small molecules in OSCs.Then,the characteristics of H-and J-aggregation and the methods to identify them were summarized.Next,it reviewed the research progress of H-and J-aggregation of conjugated small molecules in OSCs,including the factors influencing H-and J-aggregation in thin film and the effects of H-and J-aggregation on OPV performance.

AFM Height Measurements of Molecular Layers of a Carbocyanine Dye

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used for the morphological characterization and precise height meas-urements of two-dimensional molecular layers of carbocyanine dye 3,3’-di(r-sulfopropyl)-4,4’,5,5’-dibenzo-9-ethylthiacarbocyanine betaine pyridinium salt. The AFM measurements reveal three morphological types of molecular aggregates: leaves, stripes and spots. The leaves are stripes have same monolayer height ~1.4 nm and different crystal shapes: the leaves are monoloyers with the lens shape and the stripes are bilay-ers with the shape of extended rectangles. The monolayer height ~1.4 nm was interpreted as indicating the symmetrical packing arrangement of dye molecules. In the symmetrical monolayer, the sulfopropyl groups of all-trans monomer units are located on both monolayer sides whereas the adjacent stacked dye molecules have a lateral slippage providing the J-aggregate optical properties. The lower height of spots ~1 nm was explained by the model of an asymmetric monolayer with sulfopropyl groups of all-trans monomers occupy-ing the same position with respect to the monolayer plane. The packing arrangement of all-trans monomers in the asymmetric monolayer corresponds to H-aggregate. The alternative models of the packing arrange-ment in monolayers with mono-cis1 monomer configuration are discussed.

A synergetic strategy of NIR-Ⅱ squaraine dyes with ultrahigh photothermal conversion efficiency for photothermal therapy

Recent research on photothermal therapy(PTT) has sparked significant interest in the development of new organic photothermal agents(PTAs),ranging from single-molecule to aggregated levels.However,controlling aggregation pathways for PTAs with ultrahigh photothermal conversion efficiency(PCE) remains a major challenge.Herein,a two-pronged approach utilizing “Haggregation” and “intramolecular motion” was employed to enhance the PCE of an acceptor-substituted squaraine dye(NSQs).The C2vmolecular symmetry of the NSQs,which possess a ground state dipole moment(μg),promotes H-dimeric aggregates through dipole-dipole counteraction.Peripheral triphenylethylene or diphenylamine groups were added to this H-dimeric nanoplatform.This was done to enhance intramolecular motions for heat generation and also to extend conjugation,which redshifted the optical absorption and balanced the blue-shift induced by H-aggregation.With this technique,an organic PTA with NIR-II absorption was developed,and its nanoparticle achieved a remarkable PCE of 86.3% under 1,064 nm laser excitation.Femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy and quantum mechanical calculations demonstrated the accelerated internal conversion process in NIR-II PTAs for rapid heat generation.The NSQs nanoparticles exhibit superior photothermal therapeutic properties for in vivo photoacoustic imaging-guided PTT,demonstrating the potential of bottom-up design to enable synergistic engineering strategies towards efficient phototheranostic agents.

Regioisomerism effect(RIE) on optimizing ultralong organic phosphorescence lifetimes

Organic phosphorescence materials demonstrate potential optoelectronic applications due to their remarkably ultralong organic phosphorescence(UOP)lifetime and abundant optical characteristics prior to the fluorescence materials.For a better insight into the intrinsic relationship among regioisomeric molecules,crystalline interactions,and phosphorescence properties,three crystalline dicarbazol-9-yl pyrazine-based regioisomers with para-,meta-and ortho-convergent substitutions(p-DCzP,m-DCzP,and o-DCzP)were designed and presented gradually increased UOP lifetimes prolonging from 63.14,127.93 to 350.46 ms,respectively,due to the regioisomerism effect(RIE)which would be an effective strategy for better understanding of structure-property of UOP materials.

Subtle structure tailoring of metal-free triazine luminogens for highly efficient ultralong organic phosphorescence

Ultralong organic phosphorescent materials have invoked considerable attention for their great potential in sensing,data encryption,information anti-counterfeiting and so forth.However,effective ways to achieve highly efficient ultralong organic phosphorescence(UOP)in metal-free organic materials remain a great challenge.Herein,we designed three isomers based on asymmetric triazines with various bromine substituted positions.Impressively,phosphorescence efficiency of p-BrAT in solid state can reach up to 9.7%with a long lifetime of 386 ms,which was one of the highest efficient UOP materials reported so far.Theoretical calculations further demonstrated that para-substitution exhibited the most effective radiative transition for triplet excitons.These results will provide an effective approach to achieving highly efficient UOP materials.

Ultalong nanowires self-assembled from a[b]-bisphenanthrene-fused azadipvrromethene

The 1 D microwires based onπ-extended azaBODIPY were successfully prepared and characterized for the first time.The bisphenanthrene-fused azaBPP-12 C with four hydrophobic chains was prepared through de novo synthesis method involving the Suzuki reaction and subsequent oxidative ring-fused coupling.The microwires and aggregation behavior were studied using SEM,XRD and absorption spectroscopy.Finally,an H-ty pe aggregation was confirmed in the solution process.

ASSOCIATION BEHAVIOR OF PORPHYRIN PENDANTS IN pH-SENSITIVE WATER-SOLUBLE POLYMER

A novel tripyridylporphyrin monomer,5-[4-[2-（acryloyloxy）ethoxy]phenyl]-10,15,20-tris（4-pyridyl）porphyrin （TrPyP）,was synthesized and polymerized with acrylamide（AM） to prepare the hydrophobically associating water-soluble polymer PAM-TrPyP.The aggregation behavior of porphyrin pendants was investigated by UV-Visible and fluorescence spectra.The polymer displays a strong tendency of hydrophobic association even in dilute solutions.With increasing the concentration,the maximum absorption wavelength of Soret band changes from 416 nm to 407 nm,and the fluorescence corrected for the inner filter effect exhibits moderate concentration quenching.All the results indicate thatπ-πinteraction of porphyrin pendants plays a key role in association of PAM-TrPyP,and H-aggregates of porphyrins are mainly formed in the concentrated solution.On the other hand,dynamic light scattering（DLS） and transmission electron microscopy（TEM） were used to follow the changes in size and structure of the macromolecular assemblies with the concentration increase.The polymer aggregation conformation changes from loose ＂vesicle-like＂ morphology to solid globule accordingly.When pH value of solution decreases to 4.3,pyridine moieties on porphyrin pendants could be protonated and the H-aggregates formed in macromolecular matrix are destroyed by electrostatic repulsion interactions.

Aggregation behavior of amphiphilic D-π-A molecules bearing recognition group

Aggregation behavior of two amphiphilic D-π-A molecules bearing barbituric acid as both recogniton group and electron-drawing substituent , 5-(4-dodecyl oxybenzylidene)-(1H, 3H)-2,4,6-pyrimidine trione (PB12) and 5-(4-N,N-didodecyl aminobenzylidene)-(1H,3H)-2,4,6-pyrimidine trione (AB12) was studied by UV-visible, fluorescence, and surface voltaic spectroscopies (SPS). The experimental results indicate that PB12 tends to form J-aggregate and AB12 tends to form H-aggregate under increasing concentration. An intramolecular twisted charge transfer (TICT) emission around 500 nm is observed when J-aggregate is formed between PB12 molecules, and an excimer emission around 600 nm is observed when H-aggregate is formed between AB12 molecules.