Twisted cucurbit[14]uril: A new type of CTE macrocycle for Fe3+ sensing

Abstract

Clustering-triggered emission (CTE) luminophores have aroused great attention given they are unconventional luminescence compounds without significant conjugation. In this work, the luminescence phenomenon of twisted cucurbit[14]uril (tQ[14]) is reported for the first time, and reveals it to be a new CTE compound. We systematically studied the luminescence characteristics and mechanism of tQ[14] in formic acid, and confirmed that the clustering emission of tQ[14] arises via multiply n-π* interactions and hydrogen bonding. We then demonstrated the potential application of this system as an Fe3+ sensor, and the detection of limit (LOD) was found to be 1.71 × 10−5 M. This work not only reveals new characteristics and the mechanism of the clustering emission of tQ[14], but also provides new insights into how to utilize the clustering emission of tQ[14] for the construction of new types of macrocyclic luminescence systems.