Synthesis, photophysical and thin-film self-assembly properties of novel fluorescent molecules with carbon–carbon triple bonds

•Three novel fluorescent molecules with carbon–carbon triple bonds 2TBEA, 2TBDA and TEPEB were designed and synthesized.•Their optical and electrochemical properties were investigated.•Thin-film materials.

Three novel fluorescent molecules with carbon–carbon triple bonds 2TBEA, 2TBDA and TEPEB are successfully designed and synthesized. Their thermal, photophysical, electrochemical, electronic and thin-film self-assembly properties were characterized. Three dyes showed typical photoluminescence (PL) emission behaviors, the PL intensities firstly increased and then decreased with gradually decreasing concentration. The appealing fluorescence properties indicated that three dyes could be used as good fluorescent materials. Additionally, the thin-film self-assembly behaviors of three dyes were also investigated. The microstructures of their optical microscopy (OM) images exhibited high flexibility. Furthermore, SEM and AFM surface morphology of these self-assembly nanostructures revealed that three well-defined long-range order of rod-like and tube-like self-assembly systems exhibited interesting morphology properties. Therefore, three compounds may be of great interest for the development of organic thin-film materials.

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