Caged AIEgens: Multicolor and White Emission Triggered by Mechanical Activation

Abstract

Aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) that respond to mechanical force are increasingly used as force probes, memory devices, and advanced security systems. Most of the known mechanisms to modulate mechanoresponsive AIEgens have been based on changes in aggregation states, involving only physical alterations. Instances that employ covalent bond cleavage are still rare. We have developed a novel mechanochemical uncaging strategy to unveil AIEgens with diverse emission characteristics using engineered norborn-2-en-7-one (NEO) mechanophores. These NEO mechanophores were covalently integrated into polymer molecules and activated in both the solution and solid states. This activation resulted in highly tunable fluorescence upon immobilization through solidification or aggregation, producing blue, green, yellow, and orange-red emissions. By designing the caged and uncaged forms as donor–acceptor pairs for Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), we achieved multicolor mechanofluorescence, effectively broadening the color spectrum to include white emission. Additionally, we computationally explored the electronic structures of activated NEOs, providing insights into the observed regiochemical effects of the substituents. This understanding, together with the novel luminogenic characteristics of the caged and activated species, provides a highly tunable reporter that traces progress with continuous color evolution. This advancement paves the way for future applications of mechanoresponsive materials in areas like damage detection and bioimaging.