Tetraphenylethenyl-Modified 1,8-Naphthalimide Dye with Efficient Aggregation-Enhanced Emisssion, Solvatochromism and Intramolecular Charge Transfer Characteristics

Abstract

1,8-naphthalimide (NI) dyes are one class of important organic luminophores with good photo-stability, high fluorescent quantum yields and broad emission color-tunability, which are widely used in biological and chemical fields. However, they exhibit bad ACQ property, which heavily limits their application in real word. Contrary to ACQ, tetraphenylethene (TPE) is an AIE luminogen. To eliminate the ACQ effect of NI, TPE was used as core and NI chromophores was used as peripheries to obtain a new dye TPEDNI. TPEDNI dye demonstrates typical aggregation-enhanced emission (AEE) characteristic with high fluorescence Φ>F, solid up to 100% in the film state, which is 24 times of that for its THF solution. Besides, TPEDNI exhibits marked solvatochromism, and the emission peak red-shifts from 505 nm in hexane to 610 nm in acetonitrile. TPENI also displays evident intramolecular charge transfer property in THF/water mixtures