Self-assembly of a fluorescent hydrogen-bonded capsule based on an amino-acid functionalised tetraphenylethylene.

Herein we report the self-assembly of an amino-acid substituted tetraphenylethylene (TPE) into a hydrogen-bonded dimeric capsule. Depending on the conditions applied the presented TPE derivative exhibits bluish photoluminescence with QYs up to 24% due to the AIE effect and excimer formation.

Tuning the Solubility of Self-Assembled Fluorescent Aromatic Cages Using Functionalized Amino Acid Building Blocks.

We previously reported novel fluorescent aromatic cages that are self-produced using a set of orthogonal dynamic covalent reactions, operating simultaneously in one-pot, to assemble up to 10 components through 12 reactions into a single cage-type structure. We now introduce N-functionalized amino acids as new building blocks that enable tuning the solubility and analysis of the resulting cages. A convenient divergent synthetic approach was developed to tether different side chains on the N-terminal of a cysteine-derived building block.