Regulating Cyan Fluorescent Triangular Molecules to Emit White Light in Solution and Gel Based on an Artificial Light-Harvesting System

Inspired by Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) and natural photosynthetic systems, we report a triangular molecule of phenanthroimidazole Schiff base (T), verifying through time-dependent density functional theory calculations that molecule T can undergo FRET with red fluorescent dyes. Subsequent experiments confirmed that it can be used to construct three artificial light harvesting systems through FRET with Nile Red, Acridine Red, and SR101, and all of them have successfully achieved tunable fluorescence of white light emission. At the same time, the molecule was prone to react with alkaline substances, leading to deprotonation and quenching of its fluorescence. This made the DMSO solution of molecule T suitable as an alkaline gas detection material. Finally, a multiperformance gel composed of PVA and molecular T was prepared and applied to information writing materials. It is worth noting that this is the first report on white light emitted by phenanthroimidazole derivatives through the FRET effect.