title: Photophysical tuning of the aggregation-induced emission of a series of para-substituted aryl bis(imino)acenaphthene zinc complexes.
abstract: Bis(imino)acenaphthene (BIAN) zinc complexes with para-substituted aryl groups have been synthesized and investigated from the standpoint of their photophysical properties. Each complex was found to be nonemissive in solution. However, complexes 1-6 turned out to be emissive in the solid state, while complexes 7 and 8 remained nonemissive. The emissions for complexes 1-8 displayed color tunability ranging from red-yellow. A detailed crystallographic study of the "as-synthesized" structures revealed a distinct difference in the crystal packing environments of the emissive and nonemissive complexes. Furthermore, a solvatomorphic study provided further emission tunability via changes in the crystal packing environments of each solvatomorph. Lastly, TD-DFT calculations were performed in order to investigate the effect of different para-substituents on the flanking aryl rings of the BIAN ligand.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA. acowley@cm.utexas.edu.
authors.forename: Daniel A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Lucia Myongwon
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vargas-Baca
authors.forename: Alan H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Cowley