Highly pure quaterthiophene (4T) has been prepared from monobromobithiophene by a Ni⁰-mediated coupling reaction. The analysis of impurities produced by the synthetic procedure, performed by mass spectrometry and gas chromatography with a mass spectrometer detector, has allowed the identification of at least four contaminants, among them, α-bromoquaterthiophene (Br-4T). Studies of photoluminescence carried out at low temperatures (from 70 to 4 K) on 4T thin films grown by organic molecular beam deposition are demonstrated to be a powerful tool in detecting impurities that can act as traps for 4T emission. Indeed, it was possible to assign the anomalous emission observed in some 4T thin films to Br-4T. A protocol for removal of 4T contaminants is also proposed.

Gelatin is a biopolymer with interesting properties that can be useful for biomaterial design for different applications such as drug delivery systems, or 3D scaffolds for tissue engineering. However, gelatin suffers from poor mechanical stability at physiological temperature, hence methods for improving its properties are highly desirable. In the present work, a new chemical cross-linking strategy based on triazolinedione ene-type chemistry towards stable hydrogel is proposed. Two different homobifunctional 1,2,4-triazoline-3,5(4H)-diones, namely 4,4′-hexane-1,6-diylbis(3H-1,2,4-triazoline-3,5(4H)-dione) 1 and 4,4′-[methylenebis(4,1-phenylene)]bis(3H-1,2,4-triazoline-3,5(4H)-dione) 2 were used as cross-linkers in different ratio to tyrosine residues in gelatin. The reaction was proved effective in all experimented conditions and hydrogels featured with different thermal stability were obtained. In general, the higher the cross-linker/tyrosine ratio, the more thermostable the hydrogel. The swelling properties are strictly dependent upon the chemical nature of the cross-linker.

The photon upconversion based on triplet–triplet annihilation (TTA) is a mechanism that converts the absorbed low-energy electromagnetic radiation into higher energy photons also at extremely low excitation intensities, but its use in actual technologies is still hindered by the limited availability of efficient annihilator moieties. We present here the results obtained by the synthesis and application of two new fluorinated chromophores based on phenazine and acridine structures, respectively. Both compounds show upconverted emission demonstrating their ability as TTA annihilator. More interesting, the acridine-based chromophore shows an excellent TTA yield that overcomes the one of some of best model systems. By correlating the experimental data and the quantum mechanical modeling of the investigated compound, we propose an alternative efficient pathway for the generation of the upconverted emissive states involving the peculiar high-energy triplet levels of the dye, thus suggesting a new development strategy for TTA annihilators based on the fine tuning of their high-energy excited states properties.Graphical abstract