Chiral Au(I)-based AIEgens: chiral self-assembly and crystallization-induced efficient circularly polarized phosphorescence
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Updated: Oct 30, 2026

Self-assembling Morphologies Obtained from Helical Polycarbodiimide Copolymers and Their Triazole Derivatives
Published on: February 7, 2017
Debin Fu1, Ning Li1, Shanting Liu1
1State Key Laboratory of Green Pesticide, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, 430079, PR China.
Abstract:
Circularly polarized phosphorescence (CPP) materials are in high demand for advanced technologies but face challenges from aggregation caused quenching (ACQ) and the trade-off between high photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) and large luminescence dissymmetry factor (glum). We designed and synthesized two pairs of chiral Au(I) complexes L/D-1 and L/D-2 with menthyl ester units both showing significant aggregation induced phosphorescence emission (AIPE) properties. In high water content 1,4-dioxane-water mixed systems the complexes self-assembled into chiral two-dimensional nanosheets enabling chiral transfer and mirror-image circular dichroism (CD) signals. Spin coated films of L/D-2 formed micrometer-scale fibrous networks and exhibited mirror-image CPP with glum values of -5.4 (±0.2) × 10-3 and + 6.8 (±0.1) × 10-3. Furthermore, the single crystals of L/D-1 and L-2 all exhibited excellent CPP performance, with glum values reaching the order of 10-2. Notably, the |glum| value of the L-2 single crystal reached as high as 9.6 (±0.3) × 10-2, accompanied by a PLQY of 0.41. The outstanding CPP performance of the crystals is attributed to the stable chiral helical superstructures formed through asymmetric supramolecular stacking. Meanwhile, driven by the crystalline-amorphous state transition, the L/D-2 powders displayed reversible mechanochromic luminescence properties with excellent fatigue resistance.
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