Artificial light harvesting systems based on novel AIEgen-branched rotaxane dendrimers for photocatalyzed functionalization of C-H bonds.

Aiming at the construction of novel luminescent materials for practical use, a new type of AIEgen-branched rotaxane dendrimer with up to 42 TPE units precisely distributed with dendrimer skeletons was successfully synthesized. Attributed to such high-density topological arrangements of AIEgens, these novel rotaxane-branched dendrimers revealed interesting generation-dependent AIE behaviors. Moreover, taking advantage of the efficient Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) process, novel artificial light-harvesting systems (LHSs) were successfully constructed by the employment of ESY as energy acceptors, which revealed significantly enhanced photocatalytic performances in the functionalization of C-H bonds along with an increase in dendrimer generation, thus indicating an impressive generation effect.