Cycloparaphenylenes have promise as novel fluorescent materials. However, shifting their fluorescence beyond 510 nm is difficult. Herein, we computationally explore the effect of incorporating electron accepting and electron donating units on CPP photophysical properties at the CAM-B3LYP/6-311G** level. We demonstrate that incorporation of donor and acceptor units may shift the CPP fluorescence as far as 1193 nm. This computational work directs the synthesis of bright red-emitting CPPs. Furthermore, the nanohoop architecture allows for interrogation of strain effects on common conjugated polymer donor and acceptor units. Strain results in a bathochromic shift versus linear variants, demonstrating the value of using strain to push the limits of low band gap materials.
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Synthesis, Characterization, and Computational Investigation of Bright Orange‐Emitting Benzothiadiazole [10]Cycloparaphenylene
Conjugated aromatic macrocycles are attractive due to their unique photophysical and optoelectronic properties. In particular, the cyclic radially oriented π‐system of cycloparaphenylenes (CPPs) gives rise to photophysical properties unlike any other small molecule or carbon nanomaterial. CPPs have tunable emission, possess large extinction coefficients, wide effective Stokes shifts, and high quantum yields. However, accessing bright CPPs with emissions beyond 500 nm remains difficult. Herein, we present a novel and bright orange‐emitting CPP‐based fluorophore showing a dramatic 105 nm red‐shift in emission and striking 237 nm effective Stokes shift while retaining a large quantum yield of 0.59. We postulate, and experimentally and theoretically support, that the quantum yield remains large due to the lack of intramolecular charge transfer.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1800586
- PAR ID:
- 10176814
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Angewandte Chemie International Edition
- ISSN:
- 1433-7851
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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