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Oligo(ethylene glycol)/alkyl‐modified Chromophore Assemblies for Photon Upconversion in Water
Author(s) -
Haruki Rena,
Kouno Hironori,
Hosoyamada Masanori,
Ogawa Taku,
Yanai Nobuhiro,
Kimizuka Nobuo
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
chemistry – an asian journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.18
H-Index - 106
eISSN - 1861-471X
pISSN - 1861-4728
DOI - 10.1002/asia.201801666
Subject(s) - chromophore , photon upconversion , ethylene glycol , photochemistry , supramolecular chemistry , alkyl , quenching (fluorescence) , aqueous solution , chemistry , excited state , acceptor , supramolecular assembly , materials science , molecule , luminescence , organic chemistry , fluorescence , optoelectronics , nuclear physics , quantum mechanics , condensed matter physics , physics
Abstract Molecular self‐assembly is a powerful means to construct nanoscale materials with advanced photophysical properties. Although the protection of the photo‐excited states from oxygen quenching is a critical issue, it still has been in an early phase of development. In this work, we demonstrate that a simple and typical molecular design for aqueous supramolecular assembly, modification of the chromophoric unit with hydrophilic oligo(ethylene glycol) chains and hydrophobic alkyl chains, is effective to avoid oxygen quenching of triplet–triplet annihilation‐based photon upconversion (TTA‐UC). While a TTA‐UC emission is completely quenched when the donor and acceptor are molecularly dispersed in chloroform, their aqueous co‐assemblies exhibit a clear upconverted emission in air‐saturated water even under extremely low chromophore concentrations down to 40 μ m . The generalization of this nano‐encapsulation approach offers new functions and applications using oxygen‐sensitive species for supramolecular chemistry.