Bundle-shaped cyclodextrin-Tb nano-supramolecular assembly mediated by C60:: Intramolecular energy transfer

A bundle-shaped nano-supramolecular assembly possessing numerous luminescent cyclodextrin-Tb polyads and photosensitizing C-60 units has been constructed through the end-to-end inclusion complexation of cyclodextrin cavities with C(60)s, and its properties have been comprehensively characterized. Further investigations on the luminescence properties of the cyclodextrin-Tb polyad and the bundle-shaped assembly demonstrate that a pyridine -> Tb -> C-60 intramolecualr energy transfer process is operative when a solution of the assembly is exposed to UV light.