Photoactive amphiphiles for the assembly of supramolecular architectures

The presented study reports the use of photoactive templating structures for the design of porous frameworks with built-in optical functionalities. The materials have been synthesised and characterised using powder X-ray diffractometry, UV-visible absorption and emission spectroscopy. The latter shows that, by varying the relative amount of an amphiphilic chromophore in the micellar templates, it is possible to tune the light absorption and emission properties over the visible spectrum, by means of controlling the molecular organisation and the excitonic coupling of aggregated species. This enables versatile solid materials that can be used as optical components for light-harvesting and converting systems to be obtained .