One-Pot Synthesis of Vinylogous Cyano Aminoaryls (VinCAs) as Benzenic Fluorophores: Tailoring Diverse Emission Colors for White Light Emitting Materials and Cell Imaging

Donor–acceptor-based
organic small molecules with an electronic
push–pull effect can demonstrate intramolecular charge transfer
to show interesting photoluminescence properties. This is an essential
criterion for designing fluorogenic probes for cell imaging studies
and the development of organic light-emitting diodes. Now, to design
such optical materials sometimes it is necessary to tune the band
gap by controlling the energies of the highest occupied molecular
orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital. Typically, the band
gaps could be modulated by installing unsaturated handles between
electron-rich donors and electron-deficient acceptors. However, these
methods are often synthetically and economically challenging due to
the involvement of expensive catalysts and difficult reaction setups.
In our present study, we show a straightforward, cost-effective method
for obtaining a series of donor–acceptor-type Vinylogous Cyano
Aminoaryls (VinCAs) with diverse emission colors. Further studies
reveal that these VinCAs can serve as effective cell imaging agents,
showcasing potential use in chemical biology. Additionally, these
molecules could be further used to generate white light emission (WLE),
showing their potential utility in advanced lighting technologies.