Hydrogen-bonding-induced conformational change from J to H aggregate in novel highly fluorescent liquid-crystalline perylenebisimides

A series of highly fluorescent liquid-crystalline perylenebisimide molecules having amide or ester linkage and end-capped by phenyl, monododecyloxy phenyl, or tridodecyloxy phenyl units have been synthesized and fully characterized. The amide-functionalized series self-organized to form H type aggregates regardless of their end-capping in organic solvents like tetrahydrofuran (THF), toluene, and dichloromethane. On the other hand, only the monododecyloxy phenyl end-capped molecule in the ester series showed a tendency to self-organize with a typical J type aggregation in toluene. In both series, the highest aggregation tendency was shown by the one having monododecyloxy phenyl end-capping, with the transition temperature from aggregated to molecularly dissolved species occurring at 60 degrees C for the amide and 50 degrees C for the ester molecule. At higher concentrations in toluene, the fluorescence spectra of the monododecyloxy phenyl and tridodecyloxy phenyl terminal-substituted amide derivatives showed the formation of a new peak corresponding to excimer emission at 670 nm. Thin drop cast films of the perylenebisimide ester and amide series gave only excimer emission similar to 670 nm upon excitation. Thermal analysis using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarized light microscopy (PLM), and powder X-ray diffraction measurements were utilized to study the liquid-crystalline (LC) characteristics of the molecules. Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of thin drop-cast samples that were annealed in toluene showed the formation of supramolecular rods several micrometers in length, especially for the amide derivatives. The ester derivative, on the other hand, showed a leaflike morphology thus differentiating it from the amide series, which have both hydrogen bonding and pi-pi interactions to support self-organization.