Organic materials with a donor-acceptor-donor (DÀ AÀ D) system of π-conjugation exhibit strong intermolecular interactions. This study reports the acid-induced color-changing properties of two DÀ AÀ D type π-conjugated compounds containing 2-aminopyrimidine. When the 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) moiety is introduced into the DÀ AÀ D compound as an electron donor and analyzed through UVvisible spectroscopy, fluorescence, and thermal characterization, the compound is found to have a narrow bandgap, good thermal stability, and detection ability. The detection limit for methanesulfonic acid is 1.24 × 10 À 9 mol/L. Density functional theory (DFT) indicates that both the protonated and unprotonated DÀ AÀ D compounds achieve a coplanar geometry. In the acid-induced color change, the protonated AETP, EDOT's C 1 atom, and the C 2 atom of the pyrimidine ring rotate into a head-to-head structure, providing sufficient space for proton and pyrimidine N closure. Additionally, The HOMO and LUMO energy levels of ATP and AETP exhibit a notable difference with the former at 2.127 eV and the latter at 2.039 eV. The protonation of these compounds led to a decrease in molecular orbital energy by approximately 50 %, indicating an enhancement in stability relative to their unprotonated counterparts. This observation has significant implications for the design of molecular structures that are responsive to changes in acid concentration, making it valuable for future studies in the field of acid color-changing compounds.
Results and Discussion
Characterization of the compoundsDetails of synthesis of 2-amino-4, 6-dithienyl-pyrimidine (ATP) and 2-amino-4, 6-bis (3, 4-ethylenedioxythienyl)pyrimidin (AETP) are shown in Scheme 1. The compounds synthesized in this work, ATP and AETP, are characterized by recording their FT-IR, 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR spectra. Moreover, elemental composition of the compounds were confirmed via[a] P.