STIMULI-RESPONSIVE MATERIALS

Formation follows function. In most cases, bulk materials' properties are greatly affected by small alterations at the molecular level and their physical states or phase. [1-2] In the case of solid-state emissive materials, stimuli-responsive alterations of their bulk properties of great interest to researchers as it allows the development of different functional luminescent materials that can be applied in solid-state sensing, security, information coding, and decoding, forensic analysis, etc. In recent times, significant attention has been drawn to the developments and understanding of such materials.
Concentrating on boron chemistry, our lab has been involved in developing stimuli-responsive solid-state emitters based on organoboron compounds. Although a large number of borate-dyes are known for their intriguing and flexible emission properties in condensed-states, TAB (triarylborane) based systems are yet to be explored in these frontiers. [3] The inherent Lewis acidity, coupled with the three-coordinate boron center's unique electronic structure, can provide several opportunities to develop smart sensor materials and color-tunable OLED systems. Utilizing the chemistry of simple D-A (donor-acceptor) molecules, [4] our group has successfully developed libraries of molecules with intriguing properties [5, 6].