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There are numerous ways to achieve light-induced self-assembly of gold nanoparticles, but most of them are through chemical reaction and slow. Ligands that can perform photoexcitation-induced aggregation were synthesized and modified onto gold nanoparticles. The leading functionalized nanoparticles exhibit highly efficient light-induced self-assembly properties and show high-contrast color fading in tens of seconds.

We designed and characterized an asterisk-shaped luminogen, hexakis(pyridin-4-ylthio)benzene (HPTB). Via external stimuli such as CH3OH, H+, and Ag+, HPTB's luminogenic character transitioned from blue fluorescence to green, yellow, and orange phosphorescence. Results showed that this interconversion was a reversible process that was also reproducible in liquid and in the solid state.

Carbon dots have a wide range of applications in biological and medical fields as an alternative to quantum dots because of their low toxicity and excellent luminescence properties. To date, a large number of carbon dots have been prepared and they were consequently reviewed according to their synthetic method, luminescence properties and related applications. The dispersibility of carbon dots in aqueous and/or organic solvents could actually play a significant role in the properties and various application fields, however, such a perspective is ignored by most of the reviewed literature studies. Thus in this minireview, we focus on the surfactant groups of carbon dots which could be classified as hydrophilic, hydrophobic and amphiphilic types. They have accordingly a marked impact on the dispersibility of carbon dots in different solvents as well as the further advantage in those imaging studies in vitro and in vivo.

A new strategy has been developed to synthesize difurylperhydrocyclopentene derivatives. The compound displays reversible photochromism in solution and thin-film. The results show that furan is superior to thiophene in terms of strong fluorescence, higher photocyclization conversion and cyclization quantum yield, as well as better fatigue resistance. Owing to the molecule being derived absolutely from C, H, and O atoms, the compound exhibits no cytotoxicity, which enables it to potentially serve as a biodegradable and biorenewable material for in vivo applications.

A self-recoverable mechanoconversion of multicolor luminescence was observed by crystallization-induced self-assembly. Such a self-assembly led to the formation of nanorods with different molecular stacking modes, thus making the phosphorescence/fluorescence proportion alterable. Therefore, multicolor luminescence of the single luminophore can be achieved by a straightforward reversible mechanical stimulus.

Correction for ‘Molecular stacking dependent phosphorescence–fluorescence dual emission in a single luminophore for self-recoverable mechanoconversion of multicolor luminescence’, Chem. Commun., 2016, DOI: 10.1039/C6CC04901J.

A light-driven [1]rotaxane was prepared conveniently and directly through self-inclusion complexation of an azobenzene-modified beta-CD and Suzuki-coupling capping in aqueous solution, and its photoisomerization was thoroughly investigated.