Divergent Terpyridine-Based Coordination for the Construction of Photoactive Supramolecular Structures

Exploring new materials to manipulate luminescent radiation and investigate the interaction of light and matter is one of the most compelling prospects of our century. Supramolecular chemistry has unraveled the opportunity to synergistically combine the chemical and optoelectronic properties of the most diverse classes of compounds. Among these, terpyridines have acted as pivotal ligand units that enable self-assembly of multicomponent chromophoric systems. In this review we therefore elucidate the metal-coordinating ability of these materials, that promote a plethora of aggregation-induced phenomena. In particular, fluorescence tuning, reversible stimuli-responsive phosphorescence enhancement and low-dimensional complexation have been demonstrated for carbon and sulfur based terpyridine oligomeric structures. Common thread of such processes is the versatile application of light as a trigger for spectroscopic investigation and output for superior optical, medical and sensing devices.