A thermochromic salicylaldehyde Schiff bases derivative with AIE properties due to twisted structure

Great attention has been attracted to the salicylaldehyde Schiff base due to its thermochromic and photochromic characteristics in the solid state. However, the boundary between photochromic and thermochromic salicylaldehyde Schiff base structures is still unclear, and few studies have been conducted to investigate their thermochromic behavior and structures in depth and systematically. In the present work, we have synthesized a novel salicylaldehyde Schiff base derivative (2,2′-((1E,1′E)-((2,2′-bis(trifluoromethyl)-[1,1′-biphenyl]-4,4′-diyl)-bis(azaneylylidene))bis(methaneylylidene))diphenol, BTB) with twisted structure, which possesses both thermochromic and aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics, and systematically investigated its thermochromic properties, enol-keto isomerization, AIE properties, aggregated state, and excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) process. Interestingly, in our study, we found that the color of the BTB molecule changed gradually during the heating process, and it can be found that the thermochromism of BTB is produced by the reversible equilibrium shift of the enol form and the keto forms due to the temperature change by the color difference test, the in-situ IR spectra and the DSC curves. Finally, the pathway of BTB proton transfer was analyzed through quantum chemical calculations, and it was found that enol ketone isomerization is achieved through single excited state intramolecular proton transfer, rather than the expected double excited state intramolecular proton transfer.