Molecular Design, Circularly Polarized Luminescence, and Helical Self-Assembly of Chiral Aggregation-Induced Emission Molecules

Aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens) are a new class of luminophors, which are non-emissive in solution, but emit intensively upon aggregation. By properly designing the chemical structures of the AIEgens, their aggregation process can be tuned towards a desired direction to give diverse novel luminescent architectures of micelles, rods, and helical fibers. AIEgens represent a kind of promising building block for the fabrication of luminescent micro/nanostructures with controllable morphologies. In this review, we describe our recent work in this research area, focusing on the molecular design, circularly polarized luminescence properties, and helical self-assembly behavior of AIEgens.