Decoding circular polarization with biaxially chiral fluorescence reporters
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: ). The tailored donor-acceptor interactions in this scaffold provide tunable absorption and emission across a broad range of wavelengths. These optical properties are retained in polymer-based films, which suggests that these molecular chromophores could be deployed in solid-state devices. Density functional theory reveals that installing increasingly electron-rich substituents to the dithienophenazine core significantly decreases the HOMO-LUMO gap. Chiral donor-acceptor-donor chromophores are sensitive to solvent polarity, protonation, and temperature, which provides access to emission across a >100 nm range. We find that the fluorescence intensity of these atropoisomeric chiral compounds depends on the circular polarization of the excitation source. This differential emission intensity can be increased by aggregation induced emission, which leads to fluorescence quantum yields exceeding 50%. Overall, we leverage this class of biaxially chiral chromophores to create a tunable library of fluorescent chiroptical materials that can be used to decode information stored in the spin angular momentum of photons.
Source: Chemical Science
DOI: 10.1039/d6sc05555a
Institutions: University of Florida, Wake Forest University
Language: English
Subfield: Materials Chemistry
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7171940100