A new series of C-6 unsubstituted tetrahydropyrimidines 6 have been directly synthesized via a convenient urea-catalyzed chemoselective five-component reaction (5CR) under mild conditions. Compounds 6 show typical aggregation-induced emission enhancement (AIEE) characteristics because they are practically no emissive in solution but emit blue or green fluorescence in aggregates with fluorescence yield up to 93%. One of the 5CR products, 6aa, exhibits blue- and green-fluorescence aggregates (bf- and gf-aggregates). The bf- and gf-aggregates are prepared under different conditions and proved to result from different J-aggregations by single-crystal X-ray analysis. In addition, the bf- and gf-aggregates of 6aa show unusual size-independent emission (SIE) characteristics because their maximum emission wavelengths in different sizes (suspension particles, film, powder and crystals) are the same, 434 and 484 nm, respectively. Based on the obtained experimental results, the 5CR mechanism, the origins of AIEE and SIE characteristics are discussed.

We previously reported the novel efficient proton/heat-promoted four-component reactions (4CRs) of but-2-ynedioates, two same/different primary amines, and aldehydes for the synthesis of tetra- and pentasubstituted polyfunctional dihydropyrroles. If aromatic and aliphatic amines were used as reagents, four different series of products should be obtained via the permutation and combination of aromatic and aliphatic primary amines. However, only three/two rather four different series of tetra-/pentasubstisuted dihydropyrroles could be prepared via the proton/heat-promoted 4CRs. Herein, Cu(OAc)2·H2O, a Lewis acid being stable in air and water, was found to be an efficient catalyst for the 4CR synthesis of all the four different series of tetra-/pentasubstisuted dihydropyrroles. The copper-catalyzed 4CR could produce target products at room temperature in good to excellent yields. Interestingly, benzaldehyde, in addition to being used as a useful reactant for the synthesis of pentasubstituted dihydropyrroles, was found to be an excellent additive for preventing the oxidation of aromatic amines with copper(II) and ensuring the sooth conduct of the 4CRs for the synthesis of tetrasubstituted dihydropyrroles with aryl R(3). In addition, salicylic acid was found to be needed to increase the activities and yields of the copper-catalyzed 4CRs for the synthesis of petasubstituted diyhydropyrroles. On the basis of experimental results, the enamination/amidation/intramolecular cyclization mechanism was proposed and amidation is expected to be the rate-limited step in the copper-catalyzed 4CRs.

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graphical and textual abstract Two polymorphs (1b and 1c) of THP-1 with aggregation-induced emission characteristics show unusual sensitive and reversible thermo-stimuli solid-state fluorescence-color/on-off switching, and can be used as new type of fluorescence-ratiometric/on-off thermometers with positive T-coefficient in different temperature ranges when excited at different red-edge excitation wavelengths.

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