Drug-Assisted White Light Generation Via Self-Assembly

White-light (WL) generation using small organic molecules has gained significant attention from researchers working on the interface of supramolecular chemistry and organic materials. Self-assembled multi-chromophoric materials utilizing a drug molecule and microenvironment-sensitive intramolecular charge transfer dye as an emitter offer the possibility of tunable emission. In this investigation, we focused on WL generation via the combination of a polarity-sensitive red-emitting styryl chromone (SC) and a blue-emitting anticancer and psychotherapeutic drug Norharmane (NHM) in a self-assembled micellar system. A detailed spectroscopic investigation allows us to understand the premicellar aggregation process of different types of surfactants with varying charges using the SC dye. Encapsulation of SC and NHM emitters inside the micellar system offers an improved fluorescent behavior, resulting in WL emission due to complementary wavelength overlap. The generated WL is highly photostable and thermally reversible in the self-assembled system. This investigation highlights the significance of the co-assembly of SC dye and NHM drug for the generation of a highly stable WL.