Solvent-Processed Circularly Polarized Luminescence in Light-Harvesting Coassemblies

As a kinetic factor, solvent polarity functioning in regulating/enhancing chiroptical properties of supramolecular chiral self-assemblies including handedness, dissymmetry factor, and luminescent color has not been realized. Here, we introduce a delicate solvent control over self-assembly pathways of a dynamer into four soft matters comprising gel, liposome, helix, and particles respectively, where a fluorescent dye as an acceptor was loaded to allow efficient circularly polarized light harvesting. Though no apparent chirality transfer from chiral assemblies to acceptors occurred at ground state based on the circular dichroism spectra, efficient energy transfer at photoexcited state was observed, demonstrating considerable dependence on solvent polarity and constitution. As the acceptor orientated without chiral sense in coassemblies, circularly polarized light migration from donor to acceptor is reasonably expected. In apolar decane, thixotropic gels with left-handed circularly polarized luminescence were given, and luminescent colors could be controlled from green to red (510–600 nm) via adjusting molar fraction of acceptor, affording a high dissymmetry factor at 1 × 10–2 order of magnitude. The crucial role of ordered structures in the emergence of circularly polarized luminescence was also validated. The present work provides a solvent-processed manner to rationally regulate the dissymmetry factor, colors, and handedness by feat of circularly polarized light harvesting and migration, avoiding the tedious construction of a building block and enantiomer library.