Naphthalene based AIE active stimuli-responsive material as rewritable media for temporary communication

Abstract Organic molecules having extended π-conjugated moieties is useful for creating ‘dynamic’ functional materials by modulating the photophysical properties and molecular packing through non-covalent interactions. Herein, we report the photoluminescence properties of a luminogen, NBA, exhibiting aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics, synthesized by Knoevenagel condensation reaction between 2-Hydroxy naphthaldehyde and malononitrile. NBA emits strongly upon aggregation and in solid state with large Stokes shift whereas it is non emissive in pure solvents. The aggregation induced emission behavior of the compound was carried out in DMSO (good solvent)-water mixture (poor solvent) with water fraction (fw) ranging from 0% to 98%. The AIE property of the luminogen were further exploited for fabricating rewritable fluorescent paper substrates that found applications in security printing and data storage where the written images or letters stored on the filter paper are invisible under normal light.