Molecular-level enhanced clusterization-triggered emission of nonconventional luminophores in dilute aqueous solution

Abstract Nonconjugated and nonaromatic luminophores based on clustering-triggered emission derived from through-space conjugation have drawn emerging attention in recent years. The reported nonconventional luminophores are emissive in concentrated solution and/or in the solid state, but they tend to be nonluminescent in dilute solution, which greatly limits their sensing and imaging applications. Herein, we design unique clusteroluminogens through modification of cyclodextrin (CD) with amino acids to enable the intermolecular and intramolecular clusterization of chromophores in CD-based confined space. The resulted through-space interactions along with conformation rigidification originated from hydrogen bond interaction and complexation interaction generate blue to cyan fluorescence even in the dilute solution (0.035 wt.%, quantum yield of 40.70%). Moreover, the prepared histidine-modified CD (CDHis) is demonstrated for fluorescent detection of chlortetracycline with high sensitivity and selectivity. This work provides a new and universal strategy to synthesize nonconventional luminophores with bright fluorescence in dilute aqueous solution through molecular-level enhanced clusterization-triggered emission.