Structural and mechanistic insights into an Fe3+-triggered quinazoline based molecular rotorElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Contains NMR, HRMS and IR spectra, description of NMR, crystallographic and optical studies, crystallographic, UV/VIS and fluorescence figures, Job's plot, PL decay time plot, tables and references. CCDC 959911-959913. For ESI and crystallographic data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: 10.1039/c4cc01917b

Highly fluorescent, multifunctional and thermoreversible conformational switching (1) has been designed and developed by embedding two imidazo[1,2- c ]quinazoline (IQ) units in the pyridyl scaffold. The origin of the conformational and optical switching of 1 to 1′ has been established by various studies and by developing a model compound. By developing an Fe 3+ responsive molecular rotor, the drastic effect of conformational switching on optical properties has been demonstrated.