The search for novel forms of computing to the dominant von Neumann model-based approach is important as it will enable different classes of problems to be solved. Molecular computers are a promising alternative to semiconductor-based computers given their potential biocompatibility and cost advantages. The vast space of chemical reactions makes molecules a tunable, scalable, and energy-efficient computational vehicle. In molecular computers, memory and processing units can be combined into a single, inherently parallelized device. Here, we present a microdroplet array molecular computer to solve combinatorial optimization problems by employing an Ising Hamiltonian to map problems heuristically to droplet-droplet interactions. The droplets represent binary digits and problems are encoded in intra-and inter-droplet reactions. We propose two implementations: first, a hybrid classical-molecular computer that enforces inter-droplet constraints in a classical computer and, second, a purely molecular computer where the problem is entirely pre-programmed in the nearest-neighbor droplet reactions.

The interplay between micromorphology and electronic properties is an important theme in organic electronic materials. Here, we show that a spirofluorenefunctionalized boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) with an alkyl norbornyl tail self-assembles into nanoparticles with qualitatively different properties as compared to the polymerized species. Further, the nanoparticles exhibit a host of unique emissive properties, including photobrightening, a blue satellite peak, and spectral diffusion. Extensive photophysical characterization, including single-particle imaging and spectroscopy, and time-resolved fluorescence, coupled with electronic structure calculations based on an experimentally determined crystal structure, allow a mechanism to be developed. Specifically, BODIPY chromophores are observed to form quasi-two-dimensional layers, where stacking of unit cells adds either J-aggregate character or H-aggregate character depending on the direction of the stacking. Particularly strongly H-coupled domains show the rare process of emission from an upper exciton state, in violation of Kasha's rule, and result in the blue satellite peak. The spatial heterogeneity of structure thus maps onto a gradient of photophysical behavior as seen in single-particle imaging, and the temporal evolution of structure maps onto fluctuating emissive behavior, as seen in single-particle spectroscopy. Taken together, this system provides a striking example of how physical structure and electronic properties are intertwined, and a rare opportunity to use one to chart the other.

Two complementary measurements, fluorescence polarization anisotropy and aggregation-induced emission, allow for in situ optical monitoring of polymerization reaction progress in droplets across varying temporal regimes of the reaction.