Chuan-Feng Chen

Bio: Chuan-Feng Chen is an academic researcher from Chinese Academy of Sciences. The author has contributed to research in topics: Triptycene & Supramolecular chemistry. The author has an hindex of 52, co-authored 283 publications receiving 8983 citations.

Recent advances in circularly polarized electroluminescence based on organic light-emitting diodes.

Abstract: Since the first attempt that was made to obtain direct circularly polarized (CP) light from OLEDs by Meijer et al. in 1997, considerable efforts have been devoted to the development of circularly polarized organic light-emitting diodes (CP-OLEDs), particularly in the recent years. Circularly polarized electroluminescence (CPEL) based on OLEDs has attracted increasing interest for its efficient ability to generate CP light directly and wide potential applications in 3D displays, optical data storage, and optical spintronics. In this review, we systematically summarize the recent progress in chiral emitter based OLEDs with CPEL properties including CPEL based on chiral conjugated polymers, CPEL based on chiral metal complexes, and CPEL based on chiral simple organic molecules, especially chiral thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) molecules. We believe that this review will provide a promising perspective of chiral emitter based OLEDs with CPEL properties for a broad range of scientists in different disciplinary areas and attract a growing number of researchers to this fast-growing research field.

Stable Enantiomers Displaying Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence: Efficient OLEDs with Circularly Polarized Electroluminescence.

Abstract: Aromatic-imide-based thermally activated delayed fluorescent (TADF) enantiomers, (+)-(S,S)-CAI-Cz and (-)-(R,R)-CAI-Cz, were efficiently synthesized by introducing a chiral 1,2-diaminocyclohexane to the achiral TADF unit. The TADF enantiomers exhibited high PLQYs of up to 98 %, small ΔEST values of 0.06 eV, as well as obvious temperature-dependent transient PL spectra, thus demonstrating their excellent TADF properties. Moreover, the TADF enantiomers showed mirror-image CD and CPL activities. Notably, the CP-OLEDs with CPEL properties based on the TADF enantiomers not only achieved high EQE values of up to 19.7 and 19.8 %, but also displayed opposite CPEL signals with gEL values of -1.7×10-3 and 2.3×10-3 , which represents the first CP-OLEDs, based on the enantiomerically pure TADF materials, having both high efficiencies and intense CPEL.

A highly efficient approach to [4]pseudocatenanes by threefold metathesis reactions of a triptycene-based tris[2]pseudorotaxane.

Abstract: A triptycene-based homotritopic host was designed and synthesized. Assembly of the host with a bisbenzylammonium salt containing terminal double bonds resulted in a tris[2]pseudorotaxane, which further performed the threefold metathesis reaction and then hydrogenation to give a [4]pseudocatenane in high yield. The [4]pseudocatenane exhibited a novel topological structure with high symmetry, which was confirmed by the spectral data and X-ray analysis.

Tools and tactics for the optical detection of mercuric ion.

Abstract: 9.2. Protein-Based Hg(II) Detectors 3467 9.3. Oligonucleotide-Based Hg(II) Detector 3467 9.4. DNAzyme-Based Hg(II) Detectors 3469 9.5. Antibody-Based Hg(II) Detector 3469 10. Mercury Detectors Based on Materials 3469 10.1. Soluble and Fluorescent Polymers 3469 10.2. Membranes, Films, and Fibers 3471 10.3. Micelles 3473 10.4. Nanoparticles 3473 11. Perspectives 3474 12. Addendum 3475 12.1. Small Molecules 3475 12.2. Biomolecules 3477 12.3. Materials 3477 13. List of Abbreviations 3477 14. Acknowledgments 3478 15. References 3478

Fluorescent and colorimetric sensors for detection of lead, cadmium, and mercury ions

Abstract: Exposure to even very low levels of lead, cadmium, and mercury ions is known to cause neurological, reproductive, cardiovascular, and developmental disorders, which are more serious problems for children particularly. Accordingly, great efforts have been devoted to the development of fluorescent and colorimetric sensors, which can selectively detect lead, cadmium, and mercury ions. In this critical review, the fluorescent and colorimetric sensors are classified according to their receptors into several categories, including small molecule based sensors, calixarene based chemosensors, BODIPY based chemosensors, polymer based chemosensors, DNA functionalized sensing systems, protein based sensing systems and nanoparticle based sensing systems (197 references).

Artificial Molecular Machines

Abstract: The widespread use of molecular machines in biology has long suggested that great rewards could come from bridging the gap between synthetic molecular systems and the machines of the macroscopic world. In the last two decades, it has proved possible to design synthetic molecular systems with architectures where triggered large amplitude positional changes of submolecular components occur. Perhaps the best way to appreciate the technological potential of controlled molecular-level motion is to recognize that nanomotors and molecular-level machines lie at the heart of every significant biological process. Over billions of years of evolution, nature has not repeatedly chosen this solution for performing complex tasks without good reason. When mankind learns how to build artificial structures that can control and exploit molecular level motion and interface their effects directly with other molecular-level substructures and the outside world, it will potentially impact on every aspect of functional molecule and materials design. An improved understanding of physics and biology will surely follow. The first steps on the long path to the invention of artificial molecular machines were arguably taken in 1827 when the Scottish botanist Robert Brown observed the haphazard motion of tiny particles under his microscope.1,2 The explanation for Brownian motion, that it is caused by bombardment of the particles by molecules as a consequence of the kinetic theory of matter, was later provided by Einstein, followed by experimental verification by Perrin.3,4 The random thermal motion of molecules and its implications for the laws of thermodynamics in turn inspired Gedankenexperiments (“thought experiments”) that explored the interplay (and apparent paradoxes) of Brownian motion and the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Richard Feynman’s famous 1959 lecture “There’s plenty of room at the bottom” outlined some of the promise that manmade molecular machines might hold.5,6 However, Feynman’s talk came at a time before chemists had the necessary synthetic and analytical tools to make molecular machines. While interest among synthetic chemists began to grow in the 1970s and 1980s, progress accelerated in the 1990s, particularly with the invention of methods to make mechanically interlocked molecular systems (catenanes and rotaxanes) and control and switch the relative positions of their components.7−24 Here, we review triggered large-amplitude motions in molecular structures and the changes in properties these can produce. We concentrate on conformational and configurational changes in wholly covalently bonded molecules and on catenanes and rotaxanes in which switching is brought about by various stimuli (light, electrochemistry, pH, heat, solvent polarity, cation or anion binding, allosteric effects, temperature, reversible covalent bond formation, etc.). Finally, we discuss the latest generations of sophisticated synthetic molecular machine systems in which the controlled motion of subcomponents is used to perform complex tasks, paving the way to applications and the realization of a new era of “molecular nanotechnology”. 1.1. The Language Used To Describe Molecular Machines Terminology needs to be properly and appropriately defined and these meanings used consistently to effectively convey scientific concepts. Nowhere is the need for accurate scientific language more apparent than in the field of molecular machines. Much of the terminology used to describe molecular-level machines has its origins in observations made by biologists and physicists, and their findings and descriptions have often been misinterpreted and misunderstood by chemists. In 2007 we formalized definitions of some common terms used in the field (e.g., “machine”, “switch”, “motor”, “ratchet”, etc.) so that chemists could use them in a manner consistent with the meanings understood by biologists and physicists who study molecular-level machines.14 The word “machine” implies a mechanical movement that accomplishes a useful task. This Review concentrates on systems where a stimulus triggers the controlled, relatively large amplitude (or directional) motion of one molecular or submolecular component relative to another that can potentially result in a net task being performed. Molecular machines can be further categorized into various classes such as “motors” and “switches” whose behavior differs significantly.14 For example, in a rotaxane-based “switch”, the change in position of a macrocycle on the thread of the rotaxane influences the system only as a function of state. Returning the components of a molecular switch to their original position undoes any work done, and so a switch cannot be used repetitively and progressively to do work. A “motor”, on the other hand, influences a system as a function of trajectory, meaning that when the components of a molecular motor return to their original positions, for example, after a 360° directional rotation, any work that has been done is not undone unless the motor is subsequently rotated by 360° in the reverse direction. This difference in behavior is significant; no “switch-based” molecular machine can be used to progressively perform work in the way that biological motors can, such as those from the kinesin, myosin, and dynein superfamilies, unless the switch is part of a larger ratchet mechanism.14