LAUSR

Abstract Luminescent cocrystals have been received much attention in fluorescence imaging and sensor application. In this work, we report that the high-quality chiral luminescent cocrystal can be obtained through a molecular self-assembly process of 2,2′-binaphthol and 2-(3-pyridyl)-1H-benzimidazole. The assembly modes and stacking fashions of as-obtained cocrystal were determined by single crystal X-ray diffractometer. The structure and optical properties of the cocrystals were characterized by fluorescence emission, fluorescence decay, Raman and circular dichroism spectra. The results show that both the pristine co-assembled units (R-BINOL and S-BINOL) give rise to the R conformation within the final cocrystal, suggesting that the formation of cocrystal can be an effective way to achieve R/S-isomeric transformation of 2,2′-binaphthol. It is also expected that the co-crystallization approach has much flexibility and potential applications for the design and selective formation of chiral luminescent materials.