Methylation-Activated Clusteroluminescence via Hydrogen-Bond Disruption

Clusteroluminescence (CL) refers to a newly emerging luminescence phenomenon observed in non-conjugated structures, particularly aliphatic polymers, which inherently exhibit good biocompatibility and processability. However, precise manipulation of CL properties, such as emission wavelength and efficiency, remains a critical challenge in this field. In this work, we propose methylation as an effective strategy to enhance inter- and intrachain through-space conjugation (TSC), thereby significantly increasing CL intensity. We preliminarily suggest that methylation disrupts hydrogen bonding, liberating the lone-pair n electrons of heteroatoms to participate in n-electron-involved TSC. We believe that methylation may evolve into a general and powerful approach for regulating the CL behavior of polymers, especially in nucleic acid systems.