Acceleration of Chemiluminescence Reactions with Coumarin-Modified Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane

Chemiluminescence has attracted much attention as a light source and an excitation mediator without electric power sources. To develop advanced optical materials, it is necessary to control the chemiluminescence behavior more precisely by molecular design. Herein, we describe influence of the connection to the inorganic scaffold on the chemiluminescence properties with coumarin-modified polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (D1421-POSS). Accordingly, when D1421-POSS was chemically excited using bis(2-carbopentyloxy-3,5,6-trichlorophenyl) oxalate (CPPO), it was shown that the initiation of chemical emission reactions was accelerated by the POSS connection, comparing to the model compound D1421-arm. From cyclic voltammetry measurements, it was revealed that the oxidation potential of D1421-POSS was significantly lower than that of D1421-arm. From these data, we propose the mechanism that aggregation assisted by the POSS core induces low oxidation potential, resulting in the acceleration of chemiluminescence reactions.

Automated summary

Chemiluminescence, as a light source and excitation mediator without electric power sources, has attracted much attention. In this study, we investigated the influence of connection to the inorganic scaffold on chemiluminescence properties using coumarin-modified polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (D1421-POSS). The results showed that the chemical emission reactions were accelerated by the POSS connection compared to the model compound D1421-arm. Cyclic voltammetry measurements revealed that D1421-POSS had a significantly lower oxidation potential than D1421-arm. Based on these findings, we proposed a mechanism in which aggregation assisted by the POSS core induces low oxidation potential, leading to the acceleration of chemiluminescence reactions.