Incorporation of an Anion‐Coordinated Triple Helicate into a Thin Film for Choline Recognition in an Aqueous System

Functional thin films, being fabricated by incorporating discrete supramolecular architectures, have potential applications in research areas such as sensing, energy storage, catalysis, and optoelectronics. Here, we have determined that an anion‐coordinated triple helicate can be solution‐processed into a functional thin film by incorporation into a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) matrix. The thin films fabricated by the incorporation of the anion‐coordinated triple helicate show multiple optical properties, such as fluorescence, CD, and CPL. In addition, the film has the ability to recognize choline and choline derivatives in a water system. The successful recognition of Ch+ by the film represents the first example of utilizing ‘aniono’‐supramolecular architectures for biomolecule detection in aqueous solution and opens up a new route for designing biocompatible functional materials. A series of ‘aniono’ helicates have been formed by the coordination of tetraphenylethene‐decorated anion‐binding ligand with phosphate ions. The triple helicates can be solution‐processed with a polymethyl methacrylate matrix to generate functional thin films with multiple optical properties and used to recognize choline and its derivatives in water.