Aggregation behavior of a conjugated C3-symmetric molecule: a description based on chiro-optical experimental and theoretical spectroscopies.

A new chiral octopolar C(3)-symmetric molecule is synthesized and its optical and chiro-optical properties are analyzed with the help of density functional theory. In all the cases, the work relates these spectroscopic properties with the phenomena of aggregation. Ultraviolet-visible absorption, infrared and Raman spectroscopies, and ECD and VCD chiro-optical spectroscopies are presented in combination with theoretical chemistry. In this regard, optical spectroscopies are insensitive to the supramolecular effects, while electronic and vibrational circular dichroism spectroscopies delivered adequate proof for the detection of aggregation. We have simulated the effect of molecular self-assembly by means of a docking process that provides a stable dimer on which all the spectroscopic properties have been theoretically calculated. The shape of this dimer provides us with a guideline to propose a helicoidal aggregate that is the responsibility of the chiro-optical spectra amplified by self-assembly.