The Synthesis Exploration Of Rotaxane Molecular Machine With White Light Output

The utilization of fluorescence signal as an output in rotaxane-type molecular machines has attracted much attention in recent years. Molecular machines with fluorescent outputs have potential applications in molecular switches, molecular logic gates, information-storage and data processing devices.In this thesis, much research work were focused on the synthesis exploration of rotaxane-type molecuar machines with white-light response, in which the shuttling motion of a macrocycle along the rotaxane thread can be indicated by on and off of a white light signal. A series of rotaxane intermediates based on terpyridine-stilbene derivatives were designed and prepared, and their photophysical and photochemical properties were thoroughly investigated. Moreover, some photochemically or electrochemically active functional groups, such as spiropyran and ferrocene moieties, were introduced into the terpyridine-stilbene scaffolds, and their photophysical and photochemical properties as well as the fluorescent responses to external photochemical, electrochemical stimuli or ions were thoroughly studied. The potential applications in adjustable polymer and fluorescent switches were also discussed. In this thesis, we also introduced a photochromic dithienylcyclopentene unit into terpyridine derivative, to gain dual-mode responsive fluorescent switches with high-contrast modulation.