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Helicity Control in the Aggregation of Achiral Squaraine Dyes in Solution and Thin Films
Author(s) -
Rösch Andreas T.,
Zhu Qirong,
Robben Jorn,
Tassinari Francesco,
Meskers Stefan C. J.,
Naaman Ron,
Palmans Anja R. A.,
Meijer E. W.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.202002695
Subject(s) - circular dichroism , thin film , absorption (acoustics) , supramolecular chemistry , helicity , organic dye , dichroism , photochemistry , materials science , j aggregate , chemistry , crystallography , molecule , chemical engineering , organic chemistry , nanotechnology , optics , physics , particle physics , engineering , composite material
Squaraine dyes are well known for their strong absorption in the visible regime. Reports on chiral squaraine dyes are, however, scarce. To address this gap, we here report two novel chiral squaraine dyes and their achiral counterparts. The presented dyes are aggregated in solution and in thin films. A detailed chiroptical study shows that thin films formed by co‐assembling the chiral dye with its achiral counterpart exhibit exceptional photophysical properties. The circular dichroism (CD) of the co‐assembled structures reaches a maximum when just 25 % of the chiral dye are present in the mixture. The solid structures with the highest relative CD effect are achieved when the chiral dye is used solely as a director, rather than the structural component. The chiroptical data are further supported by selected spin‐filtering measurements using mc‐AFM. These findings provide a promising platform for investigating the relationship between the dissymmetry of a supramolecular structure and emerging material properties rather than a comparison between a chiral molecular structure and an achiral counterpart.