Novel Dimeric o-Carboranyl Triarylborane: Intriguing Ratiometric Color-Tunable Sensor via Aggregation-Induced Emission by Fluoride Anions

Abstract

A dimeric o-carboranyl triarylborane compound (2) with a biphenylene bridge group was prepared and characterized. Also, its solid-state structure was determined via X-ray diffraction. Treatment of 2 with an excess amount of KF in the presence of 18-crown-6 formed a dimer-type potassium salt, [2·F2][K·18-crown-6]2; its structure was fully confirmed by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy. UV–vis titration experiments carried out in THF showed that 2 binds fluoride ions with a binding constant (K) of 8.5 × 105 M–1. The linear decline of the UV/vis absorption of 2 upon titration with fluoride suggested that the triarylborane moieties acted as independent binding sites, which were not affected by each other. Contrary to a single emission (λem = 376 nm) of 2 assignable to an intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) transition at 298 K in THF, a broad low-energy emission band was additionally observed at 77 K, which is dominant in the film state. The TD-DFT calculation on the first excited singlet state (S1) of 2 shows th...