Luminescent Organogels Formed by Ionic Self-Assembly of AIE- Active Phospholes

International audienceA straightforward synthesis of molecular gelators [1][CnBn] and [1][bisCnBn] (n = 12, 16) based on ionic interactions between Aggregation-Induced Emission (AIE)-active anionic phosphole and functionalized imidazolium [CnBn] and [bisCnBn] is described. These new molecular gelators can form luminescent organogels in various solvents. The luminescent fibers were characterized by laser scanning confocal microscope. Also, a 30 fold increase in luminescence quantum yield was observed between the diluted solution (0.6%) and the xerogel (20%) of [1][C12Bn], thus highlighting the AIE effect. In these systems, the luminescence can be used to probe the dynamics of the aggregation upon solid-state phase transition and upon gelation. Solid-state investigations have also allowed to fully characterize the thermal behaviour of these ionic complexes and to extract some packing features