Self-Inclusion Complexation of Electron-Accepting Guest into Electron-Donating Cyclic Host by Photoexcitation

Self-inclusion complexes consisting of host-guest conjugates are one of the unique supramolecular structures because they form in-state and out-state depending on the external stimuli. Despite many reports of the stimuli-responsive self-inclusion complex formation, study of the structural relaxation from out-state to in-state by photoexcitation has been unexplored. Herein, we report that an electron-donating host and an electron-accepting guest conjugate exhibits the structural relaxation from out-state to in-state by photoexcitation. Formation of the in-state in the excited state resulted in exciplex emission along with the locally excited emission from the out-state. Moreover, this structural relaxation by photoexcitation was suppressed not only by temperature, but also by the presence of guest molecules, resulting in changes in the ratio of the dual emission intensities.