Synthesis and property studies of novel Bath derivatives containing organosilyl groups with aggregation-induced emission enhancement and optical O2 sensoring characters

Four novel organosilicon compounds of Bath-n (n = 1-4), where Bath-1 = 4,7-dipheny1-2-(4-(trimethylsilyl)phenyl)-1,10-phenanthroline, Bath-2 = 4,7-dipheny1-2-(4-(dimethylphenylsilyl)phenyl)-1,10-phenanthroline, Bath-3 = 4,7-diphenyl-2-(4-(methyldiphenylsilyl)phenyl)-1,10-phenanthroline, Bath 4 = 4,7-dipheny1-2-(4-(triphenylsilyl)phenyl)-1,10-phenanthroline, respectively, were designed and synthesized. The photoluminescent (PL) spectra of Bath-n (n = 1-4) mainly locate at ca. 380 nm and present aggregation-induced emission enhancement character in the H2O/THF mixture. Furthermore, the PL intensity (I-PL) of Bath-3@MCM-41 composite could linearly respond to the fraction of O-2 (fo) in the O-2/N-2 medium as fo <= 60 v%, while its I-PL can be 84.1% quenched in pure O-2 referenced to the I-PL in pure N-2. At last, the geometries of the ground states of Bath-n (n = 1-4) were also simulated by the density functional theory to explore the character of the frontier molecular orbitals of Bath-n (n = 1-4). (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.