Supramolecularly Engineered Construction of Metastable Molecular Assemblies toward Creation of Mechanoresponsive Soft Materials

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24685022
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Functional materials chemistry
• Research Institution: Chiba University
• Principal Investigator: YAGAI Shiki 千葉大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 准教授 (80344969)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 分子集合体 / 刺激応答性 / 準安定構造 / 発光材料 / 両親媒性 / 機械的刺激 / インクジェット / π電子系材料

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Organic materials that exhibit tunable luminescence in the solid state under external mechanical stimuli have potential applications in sensors and imaging devices. However, no rational designs have been proposed that impart these mechano-responsive luminescent properties to π-conjugated compounds. In this study we demonstrated a strategy for mechano-responsive luminescent materials by imparting amphiphilic and dipolar characteristics to a luminescent π-conjugated system. The π-conjugated luminophore with a didodecylamino group at one end and a tri(ethylene glycol) ester group at the other end afforded segregated solid structures by separately aggregating its hydrophobic and hydrophilic moieties. In the segregated structures the molecules are aligned in the same direction, thereby generating a conflict between dipole moment between the neighboring molecules. As a result, these metastable solid structures can be transformed through mechanical stimulation to a more stable structure.

Free Research Field

有機機能材料化学