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Reevaluating the Solution Photophysics of Tetraphenylethylene at the Origin of their Aggregation‐Induced Emission Properties
Author(s) -
Rouillon Jean,
Monnereau Cyrille,
Andraud Chantal
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.202100926
Subject(s) - tetraphenylethylene , photoisomerization , aggregation induced emission , excited state , intramolecular force , photochemistry , excitation , chemical physics , molecule , quantum yield , materials science , chemistry , isomerization , atomic physics , fluorescence , physics , optics , stereochemistry , catalysis , quantum mechanics , organic chemistry
Although tetraphenylethylene (TPE) and its derivatives have been the most commonly used building blocks in the construction of molecules with aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) properties, no absolute consensus exists regarding the mechanisms at the origin of the phenomenon. Restriction of intramolecular rotations (RIR) of peripheral phenyls has historically been a dominant paradigm, which has served as a valuable guideline in the molecular engineering of AIEgens. Yet, an increasing number of recent works have established that photoisomerization or photocyclization may actively participate in the nonradiative dissipation of the excitation energy. In this paper, the first experimental evaluation of the quantum efficiencies of these different processes is reported, and photoisomerization is shown to be by far the dominant photophysical pathway in solution, accounting for virtually all nonradiative decay of the molecule‘s excited state in degassed solution.