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O fascínio e a curiosidade da humanidade pela luz incentivaram a compreensão dos fenômenos que envolvem a interação matéria-energia, levando a um avanço tecnológico jamais visto antes. Com essa compreensão, atualmente é possível criar materiais com inúmeras finalidades; como na extensa área de micro e optoeletrônica; como na confecção de OLEDs e OPVs; no desenvolvimento de revestimentos inteligentes; marcadores biológicos; materiais para drug delivery; entre muitas outras aplicações. Seguindo essa perspectiva, a classe dos corantes rilênicos conhecida por naftalimidas possuem propriedades únicas que permitem a confecção dos mais diversos materiais. Desta maneira, o presente estudo sintetizou dois monômeros naftálicos inéditos derivados da 1,8-naftalimida e da 1,4,5,8-naftalenodiimida, os monômeros NI-AL e NDI-ALp. Além disso, também foram sintetizados dois copolímeros compostos por estireno-co-NI-AL e estireno-co-NDI-ALp. Para cada copolímero houve a variação da proporção estireno/comonômero, gerando, ao todo, dez copolímeros (seis de estireno-co-NI-AL e quatro de estireno-co-NDI-ALp). Os copolímeros foram analisados através de técnicas espectrométricas (1H RMN, FTIR, UV-Vis, Fluorescência, Reflectância) e cromatográficas (GPC). Os resultados indicaram que o copolímero de estireno-co-NI-AL sofre agregação devido às interações π-π, mas não há transferência de cargas entre os comonômeros. Já o copolímero estireno-co-NDI-ALp forma uma complexação no estado fundamental, deslocando a fluorescência da NDI-ALp para a região do verde e causando o surgimento de uma banda a 450 nm no espectro de UV-Vis. / The fascination and curiosity of humanity for light has stimulated the understanding of the interaction between energy and matter, leading to a technological advance never seen before. It is now possible to create materials with numerous purposes such as the extensive area of micro and optoelectronics, the manufacturing of OLEDs and OPVs, the development of intelligent coatings, biological markers, materials for drug delivery, among many others applications. Following this perspective, a class of rylene dyes known as naphthalimides have unique properties that allow the synthesis of numerous materials. In this study, two novel naphthalene allyl monomers derived from 1,8-naphthalimide and 1,4,5,8-naphthalenediimide have been synthesized, the monomers NI-AL and NDI-ALp. In addition, copolymers of styrene-co-NI-AL and styrene-co-NDI-ALp presenting different compositions were also synthesized. For each copolymer, the styrene: comonomer ratio varied, generating altogether tem copolymers (six of styrene-co-NI-AL and four of styrene-co-NDI-ALp). The copolymers were analyzed by spectrometric (1H NMR, FTIR, UV-Vis, Fluorescence) and chromatographic (GPC) techniques. The results indicated that the styrene-co-NIAL copolymer undergoes aggregation due to the π-π interactions, but there is no charge transfer between the comonomers. However, the styrene-co-NDI-ALp copolymer forms a complexation in the ground state, displacing the NDI-ALp fluorescence to the green region and causing the appearance of a band at 450 nm in the UV-Vis spectrum attributed to charge transfer complexes.

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).

Um dos temas modernos em fotoquímica em soluções aquosas é a observação de prototropismo de estados eletrônicos excitados. Resumidamente, moléculas orgânicas contendo grupamentos ácido-base quando excitadas, e cujo tempo de vida do estado excitado seja longo o suficiente, reações competitivas de transferência de prótons com as do processo de relaxação poderão ocorrer. No caso de aumento de acidez os compostos são denominados fotoácidos e no contrário fotobases. Este fenômeno é atribuído a um estado isoeletrônico da molécula no estado fundamental tendo sido descritos variações de até sete unidades de pKa. Do ponto de vista da investigação Físico-Química o estudo da circunvizinhança, na qual as espécies excitadas percorrem uma superfície de potencial seja na direção da reassociação seja na da ionização com posterior solvatação das mesmas, fornece uma importante ferramenta de análise de propriedades de micro ambiente. Esta possibilidade advém das excelentes propriedades espectrais dos grupos cromofóricos desta classe de compostos o que facilita o monitoramento das espécies transientes adicionado ao estágio técnico atual de medidas ultra-rápidas. Neste estudo enfocamos o estudo de derivados de quinolina (fotobase), contendo grupos passíveis de reação de polimerização. Os derivados 3-alil-2-metilquinolin-4-ol (HIQ) e 3-alil-4-cloro-2-metilquinolina (CLQ) foram preparados e as propriedades fotoprototrópicas determinadas. O primeiro monômero comporta-se como fotobase ou fotoácido dependendo do pH do meio que este se encontra e o CLQ como fotobase. Na seqüência tentamos obter polímeros do HIQ e CLQ, porém não se obteve um resultado positivo devido a dificuldade da polimerização de grupos alil inclusive por via eletroquímica. Em seqüência prosseguimos à determinação das propriedades fotoquímicas e fotofísicas de derivados de di-naftalimidas, devido às inúmeras aplicações destes compostos em novos materiais. Propriedades destas ftalimidas são em geral devidas à conjugação dos elétrons do grupo imida aos do anel naftalênico. Esta conjugação confere uma alto grau de planaridade aos derivados, de forma que a solvatação é dificultada. Observa-se via de regra espectros tanto de absorção como de emissão de fluorescência com alta resolução vibrônica seja nas transições S0-S1 ou S0-S2. Os efeitos espectroscópicos esperados de solventes devem ser função das cadeias laterais nos grupos imidas. Neste contexto foram preparados vários derivados para uso como sondas. Foram estudados sete compostos: N,N\'-n-butil-1,4,5,8-di-naftalimida (BUNDI); N,N\'-(2-cloro-etileno)-1,4,5,8-di-naftalimida (CLNDI); N,N\'-(2-bromo-etileno)-1,4,5,8-di-naftalimida (BRNDI); N,N\'-2-hidroxietileno-1,4,5,8-di-naftalimida (OHNDI); N,N\'-(N,N\'-dimetiletilenodiamina)-1,4,5,8-di-naftalimida (DMNDI); N,N\'-amino-1,4,5,8-di-naftalimida(DANDI) e N,N\'-1,4,5,8-di-naftalimida (NDI). Os derivados aqui estudados responderam de forma excelente às expectativas levando seja à formação de dímeros e agregados seja a alterações nas intensidades e relações das bandas vibrônicas (excitação e emissão) das transições S0-S1. Demonstra-se aqui a excelente qualidade destes compostos como repórteres do próprio estado de suas moléculas como do meio circunvizinho. / Excited state proto transfer reactions in aqueous media is among current themes in photochemistry research. Shortly, organic molecules having acid or basic groups and presenting excited state lifetimes long enough, competitive prototropic reactions can occur. This phenomenon is attributed to an isoelectronic state of the ground state molecule and up to seven units of pKa changes have been described. From the Physical Chemistry investigation viewpoint the study of the neighborhood where the excited species have a potential surface to describe either for the re association reaction or for the ionization followed by solvation, presents an important tool for the analysis of the microenvironment. This feature arises from the optimal spectral properties of the chromophoric groups of this class of compounds, which facilitates monitoring transient species as well by the current technology standards. In this work focused a photobase derivative from quinoline having a suitable polymerizable group. The 3-allyl-2-methylquinolin-4-ol (HIQ) and the 3-allyl-4-chloro-2-methylquinoline (CLQ) were synthesized and their photoprotrtopic behavior determined. The first compound shows both photoacid and photobase character as a function of the solution pH whereas CLQ is a photobase. Following attempts to obtain polymers were unsuccessful either using electrochemical routes. Given the several applications of di-naphthalimides as new materials, photochemical and photophysical of some derivatives were determined. The properties of these phthalimides arise from the conjugation of the imide electrons with vicinal naphthalic ring. This conjugation confers a high planarity degree and hindering the chromophore solvation. Accordingly high vibronic resolution is observed in both excitation and emission spectra either in the S0-S1 or S0-S2 transitions. Expected solvent spectroscopic effects are thus due to the radical N-imide groups. In this subject several di-imides derivatives were prepared for the use as medium probes. Seven compounds were investigated: N,N\'-n-butyl-1,4,5,8-di-naphthalimide (BUNDI; N,N\'-(2-chloroethylene)-1,4,5,8-di-naphthalimide (CLNDI); N,N\'-(2-bromoethylene) )-1,4,5,8-di-naphthalimide (BRNDI), N,N\'-2-hydroxiethylene-1,4,5,8-di-naphthalimide (OHNDI); N,N\'-(N,N\'-dimethylethylenodiamine)-1,4,5,8-di-naphthtalimide (DMNDI); N,N\'-amine-1,4,5,8-di-naphthalimide (DANDI) and N,N\'-1,4,5,8-di-naphthalimide (NDI). The derivatives studied fully satisfied the expectations leading to either a dimer and aggregate formation or to changes in the intensities or in the vibronic bands intensities relationships (excitation and emission) of the S0-S1 transitions. Here it is shown the excellent quality of these molecules as self and microenvironment probes.

Um dos temas modernos em fotoquímica em soluções aquosas é a observação de prototropismo de estados eletrônicos excitados. Resumidamente, moléculas orgânicas contendo grupamentos ácido-base quando excitadas, e cujo tempo de vida do estado excitado seja longo o suficiente, reações competitivas de transferência de prótons com as do processo de relaxação poderão ocorrer. No caso de aumento de acidez os compostos são denominados fotoácidos e no contrário fotobases. Este fenômeno é atribuído a um estado isoeletrônico da molécula no estado fundamental tendo sido descritos variações de até sete unidades de pKa. Do ponto de vista da investigação Físico-Química o estudo da circunvizinhança, na qual as espécies excitadas percorrem uma superfície de potencial seja na direção da reassociação seja na da ionização com posterior solvatação das mesmas, fornece uma importante ferramenta de análise de propriedades de micro ambiente. Esta possibilidade advém das excelentes propriedades espectrais dos grupos cromofóricos desta classe de compostos o que facilita o monitoramento das espécies transientes adicionado ao estágio técnico atual de medidas ultra-rápidas. Neste estudo enfocamos o estudo de derivados de quinolina (fotobase), contendo grupos passíveis de reação de polimerização. Os derivados 3-alil-2-metilquinolin-4-ol (HIQ) e 3-alil-4-cloro-2-metilquinolina (CLQ) foram preparados e as propriedades fotoprototrópicas determinadas. O primeiro monômero comporta-se como fotobase ou fotoácido dependendo do pH do meio que este se encontra e o CLQ como fotobase. Na seqüência tentamos obter polímeros do HIQ e CLQ, porém não se obteve um resultado positivo devido a dificuldade da polimerização de grupos alil inclusive por via eletroquímica. Em seqüência prosseguimos à determinação das propriedades fotoquímicas e fotofísicas de derivados de di-naftalimidas, devido às inúmeras aplicações destes compostos em novos materiais. Propriedades destas ftalimidas são em geral devidas à conjugação dos elétrons do grupo imida aos do anel naftalênico. Esta conjugação confere uma alto grau de planaridade aos derivados, de forma que a solvatação é dificultada. Observa-se via de regra espectros tanto de absorção como de emissão de fluorescência com alta resolução vibrônica seja nas transições S0-S1 ou S0-S2. Os efeitos espectroscópicos esperados de solventes devem ser função das cadeias laterais nos grupos imidas. Neste contexto foram preparados vários derivados para uso como sondas. Foram estudados sete compostos: N,N\'-n-butil-1,4,5,8-di-naftalimida (BUNDI); N,N\'-(2-cloro-etileno)-1,4,5,8-di-naftalimida (CLNDI); N,N\'-(2-bromo-etileno)-1,4,5,8-di-naftalimida (BRNDI); N,N\'-2-hidroxietileno-1,4,5,8-di-naftalimida (OHNDI); N,N\'-(N,N\'-dimetiletilenodiamina)-1,4,5,8-di-naftalimida (DMNDI); N,N\'-amino-1,4,5,8-di-naftalimida(DANDI) e N,N\'-1,4,5,8-di-naftalimida (NDI). Os derivados aqui estudados responderam de forma excelente às expectativas levando seja à formação de dímeros e agregados seja a alterações nas intensidades e relações das bandas vibrônicas (excitação e emissão) das transições S0-S1. Demonstra-se aqui a excelente qualidade destes compostos como repórteres do próprio estado de suas moléculas como do meio circunvizinho. / Excited state proto transfer reactions in aqueous media is among current themes in photochemistry research. Shortly, organic molecules having acid or basic groups and presenting excited state lifetimes long enough, competitive prototropic reactions can occur. This phenomenon is attributed to an isoelectronic state of the ground state molecule and up to seven units of pKa changes have been described. From the Physical Chemistry investigation viewpoint the study of the neighborhood where the excited species have a potential surface to describe either for the re association reaction or for the ionization followed by solvation, presents an important tool for the analysis of the microenvironment. This feature arises from the optimal spectral properties of the chromophoric groups of this class of compounds, which facilitates monitoring transient species as well by the current technology standards. In this work focused a photobase derivative from quinoline having a suitable polymerizable group. The 3-allyl-2-methylquinolin-4-ol (HIQ) and the 3-allyl-4-chloro-2-methylquinoline (CLQ) were synthesized and their photoprotrtopic behavior determined. The first compound shows both photoacid and photobase character as a function of the solution pH whereas CLQ is a photobase. Following attempts to obtain polymers were unsuccessful either using electrochemical routes. Given the several applications of di-naphthalimides as new materials, photochemical and photophysical of some derivatives were determined. The properties of these phthalimides arise from the conjugation of the imide electrons with vicinal naphthalic ring. This conjugation confers a high planarity degree and hindering the chromophore solvation. Accordingly high vibronic resolution is observed in both excitation and emission spectra either in the S0-S1 or S0-S2 transitions. Expected solvent spectroscopic effects are thus due to the radical N-imide groups. In this subject several di-imides derivatives were prepared for the use as medium probes. Seven compounds were investigated: N,N\'-n-butyl-1,4,5,8-di-naphthalimide (BUNDI; N,N\'-(2-chloroethylene)-1,4,5,8-di-naphthalimide (CLNDI); N,N\'-(2-bromoethylene) )-1,4,5,8-di-naphthalimide (BRNDI), N,N\'-2-hydroxiethylene-1,4,5,8-di-naphthalimide (OHNDI); N,N\'-(N,N\'-dimethylethylenodiamine)-1,4,5,8-di-naphthtalimide (DMNDI); N,N\'-amine-1,4,5,8-di-naphthalimide (DANDI) and N,N\'-1,4,5,8-di-naphthalimide (NDI). The derivatives studied fully satisfied the expectations leading to either a dimer and aggregate formation or to changes in the intensities or in the vibronic bands intensities relationships (excitation and emission) of the S0-S1 transitions. Here it is shown the excellent quality of these molecules as self and microenvironment probes.

Luminescent materials find numerous applications in recent times and have enriched human lives in several different ways. From display and lighting technologies to security, sensing and biological investigations, luminescent organic compounds have become indispensible and often preferred over their inorganic counterparts. The versatility of organic materials arises from their comparative low costs, ease of fine-tuning, low toxicity and the possibility to develop flexible devices. Even until very recent times, the investigations and usage of organic luminescent materials were mostly limited to solution-state properties. However, with progress of available characterisation techniques and parallel development of their usage in solid-state devices and other applications (e.g. security, forensics, sensing etc.), significantly greater attention has been paid to the development and investigations of solid-state emissive organic materials. In solid-state applications, apart from the molecular properties of any given material, their cumulative i.e. bulk physical properties are of even greater importance. Thus, investigations of structure-property relationships in organic luminescent compounds to understand their molecular and bulk properties are of fundamental interest. In this thesis, NPI (1,8-naphthalimide) and BODIPY (boron-dipyrromethene) dyes were investigated to provide a broad overview of their structure-property correlations. Among commonly encountered organic luminescent materials, NPIs and BODIPYs have emerged as two broad classes of luminescent organic compounds, finding applications as functional luminescent materials in various fields. However, lack of understanding for controlling the cumulative emissive properties of these compounds has limited their usage as active solid-state emitters in various applications. This thesis presents several new insights into the molecular and bulk emissive properties of these two classes of luminescent dyes (NPIs and BODIPYs). The contents of the six chapters contained in this thesis are summarised below. Chapter 1 summarises the available understanding of the basic concepts of photoluminescence and the design strategies to develop solid-state luminescent and AIE (aggregation-induced emission) active materials. This chapter also emphasises in the basic nature of the NPI and BODIPY compounds, their substitution patterns and their inherent characteristics and touches upon the relatively unexplored properties of NPI and BODIPY based materials. The importance and scope of the work reported in the thesis is outlined at the end of the chapter. Chapter 2 describes a detailed investigation of a series of seven (4-oxoaryl substituted) NPI compounds (1-7) providing an insight into the molecular and cumulative photophysical behaviour of these compounds. The low ICT characteristics of the NPIs, coupled with the twisted geometry, facilitated solid-state luminescence in these materials. The solution and solid-state luminescent properties of these compounds can be directly correlated to their structural rigidity, nature of substituents and solid-state intermolecular interactions (e.g. π-π stacking, C-H•••O interactions etc.). The solid-state crystal structures of the NPI siblings are profoundly affected by the pendant substituents. All of the NPIs (1-7) show antiparallel dimeric π-π stacking interactions in the solid-state which can further extend in parallel, alternate, orthogonal or lateral fashion depending on the steric and electronic nature of the C-4′ substituents. Structural investigations including Hirsfeld surface analysis methods reveal that while strongly interacting systems show weak to moderate emission in their condensed states, weakly interacting systems show strong emission yields under the same conditions. The nature of packing and extended structures also affects the emission colors of the NPIs in the solid-state. DFT computational studies were utilized to understand the molecular and cumulative electronic behavior of the NPIs. Apart from the investigation of solid-state luminescence, other functional potentials of these NPIs were also explored. One of the compounds (i.e. 4) shows chemodosimetric response towards aqueous Hg(II) species with a ‘turn-on’ response. Also, depending on the molecular flexibility of the compounds, promising AIEE (aggregation-induced emission enhancement) features were observed in these NPIs. Later (in Chapter 3), we developed a systematic investigation in a series of purely organic NPIs, restricting various parameters, to attain a thorough understanding of such AIEE properties. Chapter 3 describes a detailed experimental and computational study in order gain an insight into the AIE (aggregation-induced emission) and AIEE mechanisms in NPI compounds. Systematic structural perturbation was used to fine tune the luminescence properties of three new 1,8-naphthalimides (8-10) in solution and as aggregates. The NPIs (8-10) show blue emission in solution state and the fluorescence quantum yields depend on their molecular rigidity. In concentrated solutions of the NPIs, intermolecular interactions were found to result in quenching of fluorescence. In contrast, upon aggregation (in THF:H2O mixtures), two of the NPIs show aggregation-induced-emission-enhancement (AIEE). The NPIs also show moderately high solid-state emission quantum yields (~10-12.7 %). The AIEE behaviors of the NPIs depend on their molecular rigidity and nature of intermolecular interactions. The NPIs (8-10) show different extents of intermolecular (π-π and C-H•••O) interactions in their solid-state structures depending on their substituents. Detailed photophysical, computational and structural investigations suggest that only an optimal balance of structural flexibility and intermolecular communication is the effective recipe for achieving AIEE characteristics in these NPIs. Chapter 4 presents the design, synthesis and detailed investigations and potential applications of a series of NPI-BODIPY dyads (11-13). The NPI and BODIPY moieties in these dyads are electronically separated by oxoaryl bridges and the compounds only differ structurally with respect to methyl substitutions on the BODIPY fluorophore. The NPI and BODIPY moieties retain their optical features in these molecular dyads (11- 13). Dyads 11-13 show dual emission in solution state originating from the two separate fluorescent units. The variations of the dual emission in these compounds are controlled by the structural flexibility of the systems. The dyads also show significant AIES (Aggregation-Induced-Emission Switching) features upon formation of nano-aggregates in THF-H2O mixtures with visual changes in emission from green to red color. Whereas the flexible and aggregation prone system (i.e. compound 11) shows aggregation-induced enhancement of emission, rigid systems with less favorable intermolecular interactions (i.e. compound 12-13) show aggregation-induced quenching of emission. The emission-intensity vs. the structural-flexibility correlations were found to be reverse in solution and aggregated states. Photophysical and structural investigations suggest that the intermolecular interactions (e.g. π-π stacking etc.) play major role in controlling emission of these compounds in aggregated states. Similar trends were also observed in the solid-state luminescence of these compounds. The applications of the luminescent dyads 11-13 as live-cell imaging dyes was also investigated. Chapter 5 describes investigations of photophysical properties of a series of six BODIPY dyes (14-19) in which there is a systematic alteration of a common -C6H4Si(CH3)3 substituent. Inrelated constitutional isomers, the systematic increment of steric congestion and lowering of molecular symmetry around the BODIPY core result in a steady increment of solution and solid- state fluorescence quantum yields. The increasing fluorescence quantum yields (solution, solid state) with increasing steric congestions show that the molecular free rotation and aggregation-induced fluorescence quenching of BODIPYs can be successfully suppressed by lowering the flexibility of the molecules. Photophysical and DFT investigations reveal that the electronic band gap in any set of these constitutional isomers remain almost similar. However, the crystal structures of the compounds reveal that the solid-state colour and quantum yields of the compounds in solid-state are also related to the nature of intermolecular interactions. Chapter 6 demonstrates the use of DFT computational methods to understand the effect of alkyl groups in governing the basic structural and electronic aspects of BODIPY dyes. As demonstrated in Chapter 4 and Chapter 5, apparently electronically inactive alkyl groups can be of immense importance to control the overall photophysics of BODIPYs. In this context, a systematic strategy su was utilized considering all possible outcomes of constitutionally-isomeric molecules to understand the effects of alkyl groups on the BODIPY molecules. Four different computational methods were employed to ascertain the unanimity of the observed trends associated with the molecular properties. In line with experimental observations, it was found that alkyl substituents in BODIPY dyes situated at 3/5-positions effectively participate in stabilization as well as planarization of such molecules. Screening of all the possible isomeric molecular systems was used to understand the individual properties and overall effects of the typical alkyl substituents in controlling several basic properties of such BODIPY molecules.