Regulating Cyan Fluorescent Triangular Molecules to\nEmit White Light in Solution and Gel Based on an Artificial Light-Harvesting\nSystem

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