Pillar[5]arene-Based Solid-State Supramolecular Polymers with Suppressed Aggregation-Caused Quenching Effects and Two-Photon Excited Emission

Herein we develop a new pillar[5]arene-mediated supramolecular polymerization strategy to control the assembly of dyes 4,7-di-2-thienyl-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole and 4,7-di-2-thienyl-2,1,3-benzoselenadiazole in the solid state. The resulting supramolecular polymeric structures drive the dye aggregates in the solid state from parallel alignments to highly ordered "head-to-tail" structures, which effectively suppresses excimer formation and thus aggregation-caused quenching effects and enhances the solid-state emission efficiency by almost 1 order of magnitude. This, together with two-photon excited emission, endows these solid-state polymers with exciting potential in optoelectronic, photonic, and bioimaging applications.