Precisely Confined AIEgens in Giant Imidazolium–Terpyridinyl Cuboctahedra with Enhanced Fluorescence for Single Supramolecule

Abstract

To study the fluorescent behavior of quantitatively confined aggregation-induced emission (AIE) molecules in a giant cavity, herein a new type of coordination-driven cuboctahedron cage is presented, with 12 AIE molecules anchored endohedrally linked with different-length alkyl chains. The cage with confined tetraphenylethylene molecules shows strong fluorescence in highly diluted conditions (4 × 10⁻⁷ m). The fluorescence quantum yield can be altered from 3.23% up to 81.37%, upon prolonging the length of alkyl chains to C16. The study shows a great potential application in biology mimic and fluorescent microscopes utilizing confined or isolated fluorescent methods.