Tautomeric luminescent materials have significant potential for regulating luminescent properties because of their structural differences, and have become a hot research topic in dynamic covalent chemistry because of their advantages such as fast reversible conversion, multiple emission channels, and sensitivity to micro-environment changes. However, because isomeric molecules are in a dynamic equilibrium state of rapid transformation, it is difficult to accurately control their luminescent behavior. Due to the intense molecular motion, separating and stabilizing tautomers, especially at room temperature, is a considerable challenge, severely impacting the expansion of application fields for such materials.
Recently, Professor Lin Zhenghuan from College of Chemistry and Materials Science of FNU, in collaboration with Professor Ling Qidan’s team and Professor Chen Banglin’s team, successfully separated and stabilized two tautomers of triarylformamidinium bromide at room temperature by constructing a novel anionic hydrogen-bonded organic framework. By controlling the temperature or through the uptake and release of acetone, repeatable switching of colorful luminescence between tautomers can be achieved. The work, titled “Anionic Hydrogen-Bonded Frameworks Showing Tautomerism and Colorful Luminescence for the Ultrasensitive Detection of Acetone,” was published in the top journal in chemistry Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
FNU is the sole institution for completing the work, with Wang Shuaiqi, a doctoral student of FNU, and Liu Jun, a master student of FNU, as the co-first authors of the paper, and Professor Lin Zhenghuan and Professor Chen Banglin as the co-corresponding authors. The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province.
(Translated by Yi Zining/ Reviewed by Xie Xiujuan)