Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) of pyridyl-enamido-based organoboron luminophores

A new family of pyridyl-enamido-based organoboron complexes (Borepy1–4) with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) properties were developed. They show very weak fluorescence in low-viscosity organic solvents and exhibit intense fluorescence in high-viscosity solvents or in their aggregate/solid states. X-ray crystallographic analysis shows that the weak intermolecular interactions by fixing the molecular conformations of Borepy1–4 are responsible for intense fluorescence in the solid state. TD-DFT calculations show that the maximum absorption bands for Borepy1–4 can be easily tuned.