AIE-Active Chiral [3]Rotaxanes with Switchable Circularly Polarized Luminescence

The construction of circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) switches with multiple switchable emission states and high dissymmetry factors (g_lum) has attracted increasing attention due to their broad applications in diverse fields such as the development of smart devices and sensors. Herein, a new family of AIE-active chiral [3]rotaxanes were designed and synthesized, from which a novel CPL switching system was successfully constructed. The switching process was realized through the controlled motions of the chiral pillar[5]arene macrocycles along the axle through the addition or removal of the acetate anions, which not only modulated the chirality information transfer but also tuned the aggregations of the integrated [3]rotaxanes, thus resulting in reversible transformations between two emission states with both high photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs) and high dissymmetry factors (g_lum) values.