Dynamic Circularly Polarized Luminescence Switching of Metal–Organic Supramolecular Polymers Directed by the Competition of Solvent-Assisted Nucleation and Thermal Nucleation

It is challenging to precisely regulate the chirality transmission of metal–organic supramolecular polymers (MOSPs) due to a poor understanding of nucleation pathways during the highly dynamic and complex self-assembly process. This work reports dynamic circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) switching of pyridine Schiff-base cholesterol (2-PMPCC) and ZnCl2-based MOSPs with chirality inversion and CPL switching through the competition of solvent-assisted nucleation and thermal nucleation. In p-xylene, the metal complex of 2-PMPCC·ZnCl2 conducted solvent-assisted nucleation and assembled into metastable twisted nanoribbons of Agg I with right-handed CPL at 490 nm, which further reverted into thermodynamic Agg II with left-handed CPL at 490 nm. In contrast, the complex assembled into nanosheet-like Agg III with right-handed CPL at 460 nm in ethanol. Based on the competition pathways of solvent-assisted nucleation and thermal nucleation, significant dynamic morphology and CPL switching were achieved by tuning temperature in the cosolvents p-xylene and ethanol. This work revealed the chirality transfer with CPL switching and dynamic morphology transformation regulated by solvent-dependent nucleation pathways of MOSPs, providing an efficient approach to precisely control the supramolecular chirality of MOSPs with tunable CPL performances for the design of chiroptical materials.