Issue 11, 2024

Multi-site isomerization of synergistically regulated stimuli-responsive AIE materials toward multi-level decryption

Abstract

Stimuli-responsive aggregation-induced emission (AIE) materials are highly sensitive and rapidly responsive to external signals, making them ideal solid materials for anti-counterfeiting encryption. However, the limited conformational and packing variations resulting from regio-isomerization with a single substituent restricts the stimuli-responsive behavior of these materials. In this work, several AIE-active regio-structural isomers based on the salicylaldehyde Schiff base scaffold have been straightforwardly obtained through multiple substitutions with bromide and triphenylamine moieties. Solvent-effect experiments demonstrate their different orders of charge-transfer and excited-state intramolecular proton transfer upon photoexcitation, indicating the regulation of excited-state processes via multi-site isomerization. These isomers also demonstrate mechanochromism and acidichromism, allowing for adjustable stimuli-responsive effects. As a demonstration, p-Br-TPA with both mechanochromism and acidichromism can be synergistically utilized for multi-level decryption. This study successfully regulates the evolution of excited states through multi-site isomerization, offering a general approach for achieving tunable stimuli-responsive properties in AIE-active salicylaldehyde Schiff bases toward multi-level decryption.

Graphical abstract: Multi-site isomerization of synergistically regulated stimuli-responsive AIE materials toward multi-level decryption

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
20 Nov 2023
Accepted
09 Feb 2024
First published
12 Feb 2024
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2024,15, 3920-3927

Multi-site isomerization of synergistically regulated stimuli-responsive AIE materials toward multi-level decryption

W. Zhong, J. Zhang, Y. Lin, S. Li, Y. Yang, W. Wang, C. Si, F. E. Kühn, Z. Zhao, X. Cai and B. Z. Tang, Chem. Sci., 2024, 15, 3920 DOI: 10.1039/D3SC06191D

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