Unimolecular Photopolymerization of High-Emissive Materials on Cylindrical Self-Assemblies

We report a novel self-assembly pathway from a bis(imidazolyl) diphenyl–diacetylene (DPDA) compound as a realization of self-templated photopolymerization with high polymerization degrees. The work takes advantage of a cylindrical self-assembly that strengthens the preorganization of the diphenyl–diacetylene moiety at the single molecular level. On this basis, photopolymerization of DPDA can be conducted smoothly to form high-molecular-weight polydiphenyl diacetylene. Such a cylindrical self-assembly is highly dependent on molecular structure, and control studies show that only oligomers can be formed on random self-assemblies from a monoimidazolyl or nonimidazolyl diphenyl–diacetylene compound. Moreover, the cylindrical self-assembly based systems bear aggregation-induced emission enhancement characteristics and are solution processable. The leading thin-film could afford a selectively tunable function in luminescent micropatterns.