Organic crystals that exhibit mechanochromic luminescence (MCL) switch their emission colors in response to mechanical stimuli, and the original emission colors usually recover upon heating the mechanically changed state. Contrary to the recent enthusiastic investigations of MCL crystals, only a limited number of organic crystals transform to another state showing a third emission color upon sequential exposure to mechanical and thermal stimuli. The development of near-infrared (NIR) emissive organic crystals is another challenge. Although several NIR-emissive crystals that can respond to mechanical stimuli have been developed, further investigations are still required for the multi-stimuli-responsive emission involving the NIR region. In this study, we investigate the mechano-responsive properties of crystalline thienylbenzothiadiazole derivatives. The maximum emission wavelengths of these crystals are observed between blue-green to NIR (502–731 nm), which depend on the substituents R1 and R2 on the thiophene and benzothiadiazole rings, respectively. All derivatives shift the emission wavelength in the hypsochromic direction upon grinding. Moreover, derivatives having a carbonyl group on R2 display further hypsochromic shifts of their emission bands by thermal annealing of the ground states. Specifically, a stepwise hypsochromic shift of the emission from the NIR region has been achieved for a derivative bearing phenyl and formyl groups (R1 = Ph, R2 = CHO). Powder X-ray diffraction analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and spatially resolved fluorescence microscopy have suggested that the stepwise emission-color switching should be attributed to the crystal-size-dependent luminescence of the carbonyl-substituted derivatives. The present study can be expected to provide useful insights into developing diverse multi-stimuli-responsive luminescent organic crystals and thus accelerate the practical applications of luminescent sensor systems.
表现出机械致色发光(MCL)的有机晶体响应机械刺激而改变其发射颜色,并且在加热机械改变状态后通常会恢复原始的发射颜色。与最近对 MCL 晶体的热情研究相反,只有有限数量的有机晶体在连续暴露于机械和热刺激时转变为显示第三种发射颜色的另一种状态。近红外(NIR)发射有机晶体的开发是另一个挑战。尽管已经开发出了几种可以响应机械刺激的近红外发射晶体,但涉及近红外区域的多刺激响应发射仍需要进一步研究。在这项研究中,我们研究了结晶
噻吩基苯并
噻二唑衍
生物的机械响应特性。这些晶体的最大发射波长在蓝绿光到近红外光 (502–731 nm) 之间,这分别取决于
噻吩环和苯并
噻二唑环上的取代基 R1 和 R2。所有衍
生物在研磨时都会使发射波长向减色方向移动。此外,R2上具有羰基的衍
生物通过基态的热退火显示出其发射带的进一步深色位移。具体来说,带有苯基和甲酰基(R1 = Ph,R2 = CHO)的衍
生物已经实现了近红外区域发射的逐步低色位移。粉末X射线衍射分析、差示扫描量热法和空间分辨荧光显微镜表明,逐步发射颜色转换应归因于羰基取代衍
生物的晶体尺寸依赖性发光。本研究有望为开发多种多刺激响应发光有机晶体提供有用的见解,从而加速发光传感器系统的实际应用。