Multiply Twisted Chiral Macrocycles Clamped by Tethered Binaphthyls Exhibiting High Circularly Polarized Luminescence Brightness

Chemistry. 2022 Oct 21;28(59):e202202218. doi: 10.1002/chem.202202218. Epub 2022 Sep 29.

Abstract

Chiral macrocyclic dimers, trimers, and tetramers composed of paraphenylene and tethered binaphthyl were synthesized, and their molecular structures and chiroptical properties were investigated. X-ray analysis and theoretical calculations revealed that multiple twisted molecular structures - dimers, trimers, and tetramers - adopt figure-of-eight, Möbius triangle, and concave rectangle structures, respectively. These homologues have large ϵ values in their UV-vis absorption spectra because of the π-conjugation of the naphthalene-phenylene-naphthalene frameworks. Owing to the shape-persistent ring structure and tethering with -OCH2 CH2 O-, high fluorescence quantum yields and a relatively high dissymmetry factor gCPL in circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) spectra were achieved. This results in CPL brightness (BCPL ) of over 100, which is greater than that of the conventional organic CPL dye.

Keywords: CPL brightness; binaphthyl; chiral macrocycles; circularly polarized luminescence.