Charged metal-organic cages generally produce aggregates with various morphologies and different properties through the multiple supramolecular interactions in solution.Herein,a luminescent hexahedral metal-organic cage containing pyrene chromophores is successfully constructed through coordination-driven subcomponent self-assembly.The cage exhibits novel spontaneous aggregation in a dilute solution and time-dependent luminescence enhancement behavior during the subsequent incubation process.Dynamic light scatter(DLS)and transmission electron microscopy(TEM)results prove that the metal-organic cages can form blackberry-like aggregates in methanol dilute solution.Unexpectedly,the luminescent intensity of this system shows a linear increase with the extension of the incubation time in methanol,and this process is also reflected in the change in the quantum yield of the system(2％to over 80％after 5 days incubation time).Ultraviolet-visible(UV-vis),1H nuclear magnetic resonance(1H NMR)and mass spectra show that metal-organic cages can stably exist in dilute solution.Time-depended DLS and TEM data reveal that the aggregates of metal-organic cages are gradually changed from the dense state to the loose one,which may involve the transition of the system from an energy unstable state to a stable one,probably leading to the unusual time-dependent luminescent property.This unique time-dependent luminescent cage aggregate can be potentially applied as a"supramolecular time meter".

Dong Luo;Le-Xiong Wu;Yan Zhang;Yong-Liang Huang;Xue-Ling Chen;Xiao-Ping Zhou;Dan Li

College of Chemistry and Materials Science,Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Functional Supramolecular Coordination Materials and Applications,Jinan University,Guangzhou 510632,China;Department of Chemistry,Shantou University Medical College,Shantou 515041,China

中国科学:化学（英文版）

[1]Dong Luo;Le-Xiong Wu;Yan Zhang;Yong-Liang Huang;Xue-Ling Chen;Xiao-Ping Zhou;Dan Li-.Self-assembly of a photoluminescent metal-organic cage and its spontaneous aggregation in dilute solutions enabling time-dependent emission enhancement)[J].中国科学:化学（英文版）,2022(06):1105-1111

subcomponent,blackberry

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