Trimethylsilyl Group Assisted Stimuli Response: Self-Assembly of 1,3,6,8-Tetrakis((trimethysilyl)ethynyl)pyrene

Abstract

Substitution of 1,3,6,8-tetraethynylpyrene with sterically bulky trimethylsilyl groups enabled four modes of molecular packing, two polymorphs (triclinic system (Y-form) and "loose" crystal Colho (OK-form)), a "rigid" liquid crystalline phase Colho (OC-form), and an amorphous phase (OA-form), which emitted fluorescence at different wavelengths under UV light. The four phases could be interconverted by physical stimuli such as heating, grinding by mortar and pestle, and exposing to the vapor of organic solvents.