TY - JOUR A1 - Wolter, Steffen A1 - Aizezers, Janis A1 - Fennel, Franziska A1 - Seidel, Marcus A1 - Würthner, Frank A1 - Kühn, Oliver A1 - Lochbrunner, Stefan T1 - Size-dependent exciton dynamics in one-dimensional perylene bisimide aggregates JF - New Journal of Physics N2 - The size-dependent exciton dynamics of one-dimensional aggregates of substituted perylene bisimides are studied by ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy and kinetic Monte-Carlo simulations as a function of the excitation density and the temperature in the range of 25-90 degrees C. For low temperatures, the aggregates can be treated as infinite chains and the dynamics is dominated by diffusion-driven exciton-exciton annihilation. With increasing temperature the aggregates dissociate into small fragments consisting of very few monomers. This scenario is also supported by the time-dependent anisotropy deduced from polarization-dependent experiments. KW - rotational diffusion KW - spectroscopy KW - dyes KW - annihilation KW - migration KW - films Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-135190 VL - 14 IS - 105027 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sung, Jooyoung A1 - Kim, Pyosang A1 - Fimmel, Benjamin A1 - Würthner, Frank A1 - Kim, Dongho T1 - Direct observation of ultrafast coherent exciton dynamics in helical π-stacks of self-assembled perylene bisimides JF - Nature Communications N2 - Ever since the discovery of dye self-assemblies in nature, there have been tremendous efforts to exploit biomimetic supramolecular assemblies for tailored artificial photon processing materials. This feature necessarily has resulted in an increasing demand for understanding exciton dynamics in the dye self-assemblies. In a sharp contrast with pi-type aggregates, however, the detailed observation of exciton dynamics in H-type aggregates has remained challenging. In this study, as we succeed in measuring transient fluorescence from Frenkel state of π-stacked perylene tetracarboxylic acid bisimide dimer and oligomer aggregates, we present an experimental demonstration on Frenkel exciton dynamics of archetypal columnar π-π stacks of dyes. The analysis of the vibronic peak ratio of the transient fluorescence spectra reveals that unlike the simple π-stacked dimer, the photoexcitation energy in the columnar π-stacked oligomer aggregates is initially delocalized over at least three molecular units and moves coherently along the chain in tens of femtoseconds, preceding excimer formation process. KW - systems KW - molecules KW - J-aggregate behavior KW - absorption KW - spectroscopy KW - photoluminescence KW - diffusion KW - fluorescence KW - excimer formation KW - organic semiconductors Y1 - 2015 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-148157 VL - 6 IS - 8646 ER - TY - THES A1 - Shen, Chia-An T1 - Dicyanomethylene Squaraines: Aggregation and G-Quadruplex Complexation T1 - Dicyanomethylen-Squaraine: Aggregation und G-Quadruplex-Komplexierung N2 - Squaraine dyes have attracted more attention in the past decade due to their strong and narrow absorption and fluorescence along with the easily functionalized molecular structure. One successful approach of core functionalization is to replace one oxygen of the squaric carbonyl group with a dicyanomethylene group, which shifts the absorption and emission into the near infrared (NIR) region and at the same time leads to a rigid, planar structure with C2v symmetry. However, such squaraines tend to aggregate cofacially in solution due to dispersion forces and dipole-dipole interactions, usually leading to H-type exciton coupling with undesired blue-shifted spectrum and quenched fluorescence. Therefore, the goal of my research was the design of dicyanomethylene-substituted squaraine dyes that self-assemble into extended aggregates in solution with J-type coupling, in order to retain or even enhance their outstanding optical properties. Toward this goal, bis(squaraine) dyes were envisioned with two squaraine units covalently linked to trigger a slip-stacked packing motif within the aggregates to enable J-type coupling. In my first project, bis(squaraine) dye BisSQ1 was synthesized, in which two dicyanomethylene squaraine chromophores are covalently linked. Concentration and temperature-dependent UV/Vis/NIR spectroscopy experiments reveal that BisSQ1 undergoes cooperative self-assembly resulting in J-type aggregates in a solvent mixture of toluene/1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane (TCE) (98:2, v/v). The J type exciton coupling is evident from the significantly red shifted absorption maximum at 886 nm and the fluorescence peak at 904 nm. In conclusion, this was a first example to direct squaraine dye aggregation in solution to the more desired slip-stacked packing leading to J-type exciton coupling by simply connecting two dyes in a head-to-tail bis chromophore structure. Connecting two squaraine dyes with an additional phenylene spacer (BisSQ2) leads to two different polymorphs with very distinct absorption spectra upon cooling down a solution of BisSQ2 in a solvent mixture of toluene/TCE (98:2, v/v) with different rates. Accordingly, rapid cooling resulted in rigid helical nanorods with an absorption spectrum showing a panchromatic feature, while slow cooling led to a sheet-like structure with a significant bathochromic shift in the absorption spectrum. It was discovered that the conventional molecular exciton model failed to explain the panchromatic absorption features of the nanorods for the given packing arrangement, therefore more profound theoretical investigations based on the Essential States Model (ESM) were applied to unveil the importance of intermolecular charge transfer (ICT) to adequately describe the panchromatic absorption spectrum. Moreover, the red-shift observed in the spectrum for the sheet-like structure can be assigned to the interplay of Coulomb coupling and ICT-mediated coupling. Furthermore, the same bis-chromophore strategy was adopted for constructing an NIR-II emitter with a bathochromically-shifted spectrum. In chloroform, BisSQ3 exhibits an absorption maximum at 961 nm with a significant bathochromic shift (1020 cm−1) compared to the reference mono-squaraine SQ, indicating intramolecular J-type coupling via head-to-tail arrangement of two squaraine dyes. Moreover, BisSQ3 shows a fluorescence peak at 971 nm with a decent quantum yield of 0.33%. In less polar toluene, BisSQ3 self-assembles into nanofibers with additional intermolecular J-type coupling, causing a pronounced bathochromic shift with absorption maximum at 1095 nm and a fluorescence peak at 1116 nm. Thus, connecting two quinoline-based squaraines in a head-to-tail fashion leads to not only intra-, but also intermolecular J-type exciton coupling, which serves as a promising strategy to shift the absorption and emission of organic fluorophores into the NIR-II window while retaining decent quantum yields. In conclusion, my research illustrates based on squaraine dyes how a simple modification of the molecular structure can significantly affect the aggregation behavior and further alter the optical properties of dye aggregates. Elongated supramolecular structures based on dicyanomethylene substituted squaraine dyes were successfully established by covalently linking two squaraine units to form a bis-chromophore structure. Then, a simple but efficient general approach was established to direct squaraine dye aggregation in solution to the more desired slip-stacked packing leading to J-type exciton coupling by directly connecting two squaraine dyes in a head-to-tail fashion without spacer units. Moreover, the additional spacer between the squaraine dyes in BisSQ2 allowed different molecular conformations, which leads to two different morphologies depending on the cooling rates for a hot solution. Hence, this is a promising strategy to realize supramolecular polymorphism. In general, it is expected that the concept of constructing J-aggregates by the bis-chromophore approach can be extended to entirely different classes of dyes since J-aggregates possess a variety of features such as spectral shifts into the NIR window, fluorescence enhancement, and light harvesting, which are commonly observed and utilized for numerous fundamental studies and applications. Moreover, the insights on short-range charge transfer coupling for squaraine dyes is considered of relevance for all materials based on alternating donor-acceptor π-systems. The panchromatic spectral feature is in particular crucial for acceptor-donor-acceptor (ADA) dyes, which are currently considered as very promising materials for the development of bulk heterojunction solar cells. N2 - Squarainfarbstoffe haben in den letzten Jahren aufgrund ihrer hervorragenden optischen Eigenschaften, zu denen ein Cyanin-ähnliches Absorptions- und Fluoreszenzverhalten zählt, in Kombination mit einer leicht funktionalisierbaren Molekülstruktur immer mehr Aufmerksamkeit auf sich gezogen.22 Ein erfolgreicher Ansatz der Kernfunktionalisierung besteht darin, ein Sauerstoffatom der Quadratsäure-Carbonylgruppe durch eine Dicyanomethyleneinheit zu ersetzen, was die Absorption und Emission in den nahen infraroten (NIR-) Bereich verschiebt und gleichzeitig zu einer starren planaren Struktur mit C2v Symmetrie und einem Grundzustandsdipolmoment führt.27 Diese Eigenschaften haben sich als vorteilhaft für die π-π-Aggregation von diesen Squarainen auf G-Quadruplex (G4) Strukturen erwiesen, wie in Kapitel 6 beschrieben. Solche Squaraine neigen jedoch zur Bildung von Dimeren oder kleinen Aggregaten in Lösung mit kofazialen Chromophoranordnungen aufgrund Dispersionskräften und Dipol-Dipol-Wechselwirkungen. Dies resultiert in der Regel zu einer H-artigen exzitonischen Kopplung mit unerwünschten, blauverschobenen Absorptionsbanden und gelöschter Fluoreszenz.28 Daher war das Ziel dieser Dissertation, Dicyanomethylen-substituierte Squarainfarbstoffe zu entwickeln, die sich in Lösung zu verlängerten Aggregaten mit J-artiger Kopplung selbst organisieren. Auf diese Weise sollten die ausgezeichneten optischen Eigenschaften der Squarainfarbstoffe erhalten oder sogar verbessert werden. Zu diesem Zweck, wurden Bis(squarain)-Farbstoffe synthetisiert, in denen zwei Squarain-Einheiten kovalent verbunden sind, was zu einer gestapelten Anordnung mit longitudinalem Versatz innerhalb der Aggregate und damit zu einer J-artigen Kopplung führt. ... KW - Squaraine KW - Selbstorganisation KW - Farbstoff KW - Supramolekulare Chemie KW - Quadruplex-DNS KW - Self-assembly KW - Aggregation KW - exciton coupling KW - cooperative KW - spectroscopy Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-243599 ER -