A platinum complex bearing a tetraethylene glycol chain has been designed and its self-assembly properties investigated. In solution, only a yellow phosphorescence of the aggregated species is observed. The complex gives luminescent gels of different colours with DCM and DMF, reaching up to 60% photoluminescence quantum yield.

A donor–acceptor–donor (D–A–D) type naphthalene-diimide (NDI-H) chromophore exhibits highly cooperative J-aggregation leading to nanotubular self-assembly and gelation in n-decane.

We unravel the impact of metal coordination and light irradiation on hierarchical self-assembly processes by combined theoretical and experimental results.