AIE-active shape-persistent macrocycles for the efficient discrimination of toluene

Abstract Efficient discrimination of toluene from volatile organic compounds is of great significance in the field of environmental protection. Herein, the novel AIE-active shape-persistent macrocycles (SPMs) were successfully synthesized by incorporating the propeller-shaped tetraphenylethylene (TPE) moieties into the framework. The macrocycle M1 displayed unique toluene-dependent fluorescence emission behavior, an emission peaking at 508 nm was observed in the absence of toluene, while first decreasing and then increasing fluorescence intensity along with blue-shift emission was witnessed with increasingly addition of toluene, accompanied by a visually discernible green-to-blue fluorescence color change. Furthermore, tunable visible-light emission including white-light was successfully achieved by the macrocycle M1 and rhodamine B two-component molecular system under toluene stimuli. The present system provided an efficient approach for discriminating toluene from volatile organic compounds.