Efficient Deep-Blue Emittier and Molecular-Scale Memory Device Based on Dipyridyl–Phenylimidazole–Terpyridine Assembly

Abstract

In this paper we have utilized a heteroditopic polypyridyl–imidazole system 4′-[4-(4,5-dipyridin-2-yl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)-phenyl]-[2,2′;6′,2″]terpyridine (tpy-Hbzim-dipy), wherein the terpyridine moiety has been utilized as the cation binding site and the imidazole motif as the anion binding site. This system is an efficient deep-blue emitter in chloroform with Commission Internationale de L’Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of 0.14 and 0.06. On the basis of the response profiles in terms of absorption or emission intensity and wavelength toward selected anions and cations, we developed a molecular system which can mimic sequential Boolean logic functions capable of integrating into a “Writing–Reading–Erasing–Reading” combinational circuit. In this work, we also examined the effect of selective anions and cations on the optical properties of the receptor by means of computational (DFT and TD-DFT) studies.