Bioinspired fluorescent molecules realize super bright blue luminescence under sunlight

Abstract

In recent years, non-aromatic fluorescent materials have attracted widespread attention, but achieving a high quantum yield (QY) in their dilute solutions still remains a challenge. In this work, inspired by the Clustering-triggered emission (CTE) phenomenon of non-aromatic amino acids and poly(amino acids), we successfully designed a bioinspired molecule with a dipeptide-like structure and active silanol groups. The as-prepared bioinspired molecule can be hydrolyzed by simple heating to obtain the hydrolysate h-PDs, which can emit strong blue fluorescence in dilute solution. And this was the first time to realize the emission behavior of non-aromatic fluorescent materials under sunlight. The QY of h-PDs in aqueous solution and solid state were as high as 98.2% and 96.3%, respectively, which were attributed to the condensation of active silanol groups at the end of the molecule, and the existence of hydrogen bonds and N → Si coordination bonds that made small molecules cross-linked and aggregated into dense clusters. Finally, the application of h-PDs in the detection of intracellular and exogenous Hg²⁺ and Cys and luminescent films were also explored. Significantly, this work provides a design strategy for synthesizing high-fluorescence QY non-aromatic fluorescent materials, and verifies their potential application value in the fields of environment, biology and light-emitting devices.

Keywords: Cell imaging; Clustering-triggered emission; Fluorescence emission; Non-aromatic; Quantum yield; Spatial electron delocalization system.