Dehydrative Substitution Reaction in Water for the Preparation of Unsymmetrically Substituted Triarylmethanes: Synthesis, Aggregation-Enhanced Emission, and Mechanofluorochromism

Water as a reaction media in chemical transformations has several advantages in terms of safety and non-toxicity. However, dehydrative substitution reaction in water is a highly challenging operation. In this paper, we have reported a sulfamic acid-mediated dehydrative substitution reaction of benzofuryl alcohols with several nucleophiles in water towards the scalable, easily isolable, synthesis of unsymmetrically substituted triarylmethanes (TRAMs) in good to excellent yields (up to 92 %). Moreover, we have demonstrated that rationally designed propellor-shaped triarylmethanes promote aggregation-induced emission (AIE) through restricted intramolecular rotation with irreversible mechanoflurochromic property.