In this study, the composite of aluminum metal-organic framework MIL-68(Al) and reduced graphene oxide (MA/RG) was synthesized via a one-step solvothermal method, and their performances for pnitrophenol (PNP) adsorption from aqueous solution were systematically investigated. The introduction of reduced graphene oxide (RG) into MIL-68(Al) (MA) significantly changes the morphologies of the MA and increases the surface area. The MA/RG-15% prepared at RG-to-MA mass ratio of 15% shows a PNP uptake rate 64% and 123% higher than MIL-68(Al) and reduced graphene oxide (RG), respectively. The hydrogen bond and pi-pi dispersion were considered to be the major driving force for the spontaneous and endothermic adsorption process for PNP removal. The adsorption kinetics, which was controlled by film-diffusion and intra-particle diffusion, was greatly influenced by solution pH, ionic strength, temperature and initial PNP concentration. The adsorption kinetics and isotherms can be well delineated using pseudo-second-order and Langmuir equations, respectively. The presence of phenol or isomeric nitrophenols in the solution had minimal influence on PNP adsorption by reusable MA/RG composite.

The main thrust of this thesis is the development of facile synthetic routes for simple boryl anilines and study their structure-property correlations in both solid and solution states and to utilize this information to design functional materials with desired properties such as aggregation induced emission, mechanofluorochromism, and thiol sensors. This thesis contains eight chapters and the contents of each chapter are described below. Chapter 1 The first chapter is an introduction to the theme of the thesis and presents a general review on the present work with emphasis on photophysics of triarylboron based donor-acceptor systems and their applications in various fields. In addition, advances in boron chemistry in the new frontier areas such as aggregation induced emission and mechanochromism are discussed in brief. Chapter 2 The second chapter deals with the general experimental techniques and synthetic procedures utilized in this work. Chapter 3 This chapter describes the rational design and synthesis of triarylborane bearing Unsubstituted amines, namely borylanilines (3.1-3.5). Compounds 3.1-3.4have similar donor and acceptor centres but differ their molecular conformations and also differ in the relative positions of amine moiety (para and meta). Compounds 3.1-3.4 contain one amine group while 3.5 contains two amine moieties. These compounds exhibit fascinating electrostatic intermolecular interactions, N −H- - -π in the crystal structure of 3.1, 3.2 and 3.4 and N −H--N interactions in crystal structure of 3.5. The solution state optical properties of 3.1-3.5 are typical of donor-acceptor (D-A) systems. Interestingly, compounds 3.3 and 3.5 showed unprecedented mechanochromic luminescent properties. Upon grinding, compound 3.3 showed color changes from blue to cyan blue and 3.5 showed intriguing color changes from blue to green and these color changes were found to be reversible. Single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis of 3.5BP (blue emission color crystal) and 3.5GP (green emission color crystal) clearly show that the color changes are due to the difference in their solid state packing. Chapter 4 In chapter 4, the design and facile synthesis of boron based donor-acceptor (D-A) systems such as borylanilines 4.4-4.9 (D= -NH2 for 4.4-4.6 and -NMe2 for compounds 4.7-4.9) are reported. Compounds 4.4, 4.5 and 4.6 contain one, two or three -NH2 moiety(ies), respectively. Compounds 4.7, 4.8 and 4.9 contain one, two or three –NMe2 moiety(ies), respectively. A systematic investigation has been carried out to rationalize the effect of donor-acceptor ratio on the ICT process in borylanilines 4.4-4.9. The aryl spacer between donor amine and acceptor boron is kept the same in all the compounds to avoid the electronic effect of spacer on the ICT characteristics of these compounds. In the case of compounds 4.4-4.6, the increase in the number of donor -NH2 moieties does not affect their absorption profile, while in the case of compounds 4.7-4.9, the absorption spectra are shifted bathochromically with an increase in the number of donor-NMe2 moieties. Photoluminescence (PL) of 4.4-4.6 is significantly blue shifted with an increase in number of –NH2 moieties, while the PL of 4.7-4.9 was slightly blue shifted. The absorption and PL features of 4.4-4.6 are sensitive to the polarity of the solvent medium. In contrast, absorption profiles of 4.7-4.9 are not sensitive to the polarity of the solvent medium. The PL of these compounds is affected by the polarity of the solvent medium. Chapter 5 This chapter deals with triarylboron based fluorescent probes (5.1-5.4) for the selective detection of thiophenols over aliphatic thiols. The probes were constructed by conjugating luminescent borylanilinies with luminescent quencher 2,4-dinitrobenzene sulfonyl (DNBS) moiety. In compound 5.1 and 5.2 the DNBS moiety is positioned at the para position with respect to the triarylborane moiety, while in 5.3 and 5.4 the DNBS moiety(ies) is(are) at the meta position(s). Probes 5.1-5.4 showed selective turn-on fluorescence response towards thiophenol. The fluorescence “off-on” switching mechanism of 5.1-5.4 against thiophenols was fully elucidated by theoretical calculations. Probes 5.1-5.4 are also capable of detecting thiophenols in the intra cellular environments. Chapter 6 Design, facile synthesis and aggregation induced emission properties of a new series of novel triarylboron tethered N-aryl-1,8-naphthalimides (TAB-NPIs) 6.1-6.7 are described in this chapter. Systematic structural perturbation has been used for fine-tuning the optical and morphological properties of TAB- NPIs in both solid as well as in aggregated state. Compounds 6.1-6.7 are weekly luminescent in solutions. In contrast, all compounds (except compound 6.4) are strongly luminescent in the solid state and aggregated state in THF-H2O mixtures. The presence of sterically hindered boryl unit in 6.1-6.7 has endowed these molecules with unique AIE characteristics by preventing co-facial arrangements of NPI moieties. The propeller shape arrangement of TAB moiety in 6.1, 6.2, 6.5, 6.6 and 6.7 effectively prevents the aggregation induced emission quenching (AIEQ) and induce strong emission in the condensed state. In the solid state, compounds 6.1, 6.4, 6.5, and 6.6 generate an interesting supramolecular structure via intermolecular C-H--- and C-H---O interactions. No face to face intermolecular π---π interactions were found in the crystal structures of 6.1, 6.4, 6.5, and 6.6. This precludes the excimer formation which can be detrimental to the radiative process in these molecules. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of as prepared samples of 6.1-6.7 clearly indicate that the morphology of these compounds strongly depends on the molecular conformations and number of naphthalimide moieties in the TAB-NPI conjugates. Chapter 7 This chapter deals with design, synthesis and optical properties of novel dimesitylboryl appended perylenediimides. A simple synthetic strategy has been developed for the construction of novel TAB-PDIs conjugates. These conjugates can be conveniently synthesised by condensation of boryl anilines with perylene tetracarboxylic acid anhydride. The incorporation of TAB moiety enhanced the solubility of perylen bisimides in common organic solvents. The PL quantum yield of both 7.1 and 7.2 strongly depends on the excitation wavelength. Lower Pl efficiency observed for 7.1 and 7.2 upon excitation in the boryl dominated absorption region may be due to the photon induced electron transfer form mesityl units of boryl to perylene bisimide moiety. The morphology as well as emission colours of supramolecular architectures of both 7.1 and 7.2 can be modulated by controlling the concentrations of DCM solutions of these compounds. Both the compounds showed selective fluorogenic response for F-1 and CN-1 anions. The simple synthetic strategy reported in this chapter can be conveniently exploited for the construction of TAB conjugates of semiconducting organic anhydrides. Chapter 8 Novel planar chiral Lewis acids 8.3(SP, SS), 1-phosphino-2-borylferrocenes 8.4(SP) and 2-phosphino-1-borylferrocenes 8.4(RP) have been synthesized from a readily accessible ferrocene sulphinate precursor. Adopting a simple synthetic approach and a single precursor, enantiomerically pure SP and RP isomers have been prepared. It would be worthwhile to investigate the catalytic properties of compounds 8.3(SS), 8.4(SP) and 8.4(RP). It would also be interesting to replace the mesityl groups on boron with other electron deficient groups like pentafluorophenyl and 1,3,5-trifluoromethylphenyl to fine tune the Lewis acidity of boron center and to set-up a general route to enantiomerically pure Planar Chiral Frustrated Lewis Pairs (PCFLP’s).