Triphenylacrylonitrile decorated N-phenylcarbazole: Isomeric effect on photophysical properties

Efficient solid-state emitters show promising applications in optical, biological and optoelectronic areas. Understanding the structure-property relationships is essential to explore their applications. In this contribution, several isomers of triphenylacrylonitrile (TPAN) decorated N-phenylcarbazole (PCZ) were synthesized and their photophysical properties were investigated. The substitution position exerts a distinct influence on the photophysical properties, including absorption, emission and mechanochromism. All luminogens demonstrate aggregation-enhanced emission (AEE) characteristics with efficiency up to 56.80%. Except o-TPANPCZ, other isomers show distinct reversible luminescent mechanochromism, owing to the destruction and restoration of their twisted conformations and intermolecular interactions in the crystalline and amorphous states.