Clusteroluminescence from Cluster Excitons in Small Heterocyclics Free of Aromatic Rings

The study on non-conventional luminescence is important for revealing the luminescence of natural systems and has gradually drawn the attention of researchers in recent years. However, the underlying mechanism is still inexplicable. Herein, the luminescence behaviors of two series of simple, heteroatom-containing small molecules without aromatic rings, i.e. maleimide and succinimide derivatives, are studied to gain further mechanistic insight into the non-conventional luminescence process. It has been unveiled that all the molecules exhibit bright and visible luminescence in concentrated solution and solid state and the formation of clusters is the root cause for such behaviors, which can effectively increase the possibility of both the non-radiative n-π* and favorable π-π* transitions and stabilize the excitons formed in the excited state. The distinctive luminescent phenomena and intriguing mechanism presented in this work will be significant for understanding the mechanism of clusteroluminescence and provide new strategies for the rational design of novel luminescent materials.