In this study, pnictogen (Pn)-bridged diphenyl sulfones were synthesized as motifs for photoinduced dynamic rearrangement. The newly synthesized sulfones exhibited dual fluorescence at 298 K. Density functional theory calculations revealed that the longer-wavelength fluorescence was derived from the geometries after structural relaxation through photo-driven pnictogen bond formation between the O atom lone pair of the sulfonyl moiety and the antibonding orbital of the Pn-C bond. This is the first report on emission dynamics driven by pnictogen bond formation upon photoexcitation.
Keywords: bent aromatics; heterocycle; pnictogen; structural relaxation; sulfone.
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