Orthogonal Synthesis of Cationic Azatriphenylene Derivatives for Aggregation-Induced Emission (AIE) and Aggregation-Caused Quenching (ACQ) Property Switching

Herein, we report a divergent synthesis of cationic azatriphenylene derivatives using orthogonal control of thermal and electro-oxidative pyridination, which transforms the single precursor into controlled products with perfect selectivity. Simultaneously, two switchable reactions afford the corresponding pyridinium salts with different optical properties such as aggregation-induced emission (AIE) and aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) effects.