Peking University, Nov. 5, 2013: Mechanochromic luminescent (ML) materials are of great importance in fundamental research and practical applications. A series of oligopeptide-based molecules and co-aggregates with novel ML properties were reported by Jia’s group in the College of Chemistry and Engineering, Peking University.

They reported a mechanofluorochromic compound constructed from a polypeptide-based dendron and found a new mechanism of the excimer-to-excimer transition was distinct from the previously reported monomer-to-excimer mechanism (Mingjun Teng, Xinru Jia*, et al. Chem. Commun. 2011, 47, 6078–6080).

 Chem. Commun. 2011, 47, 6078–6080

Adv. Mater. 2012, 24, 1255–1261

In 2012，they developed a “smart” mechanochromic system with emission color and intensity dual-mode manipulability. (Mingjun Teng, Xinru Jia*, et al. Adv. Mater. 2012, 24, 1255–1261).

Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 6398-6401

Furthermore, they prepared a multicolored mechanochromic co-aggregate that showed reversible tricolored switching. The multicolored transitions involve two different kinds of luminescence change: (1) the emission wavelength shift from blue to green, and (2) the unusual switching of emission intensity at long wavelength (nonluminescence to reddish luminescence). This is the first report to correlate the luminescence property with molecular assembly and mechanochemical reaction to afford novel multicolored ML switching (Mingjun Teng, Xinru Jia*, et al. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 6398-6401).

Recently, they realized tricolored switching by a single organic molecule through combining the mechanisms of the force-induced transformation of assembled structures and chemical reactivity, that is, “one molecule, two mechanisms, and three colors”. The corresponding results are published in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. (Zhiyong Ma, Xinru Jia*, et al. DOI: 10.1002/anie.201306503) and highlighted at “frontispiece”.

Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.(DOI: 10.1002/anie.201306503)

The research is supported financially by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and by the 973 Program (No.2011CB933300) of China”.

Edited by: Candice Liao, Zhang Jiang

Source: College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering