Nanoaggregation-induced emission enhanced characteristics of novel anthracene-appended pyrimidinone/thione derivatives in H2O-DMF medium

Abstract Four new anthracene-incorporated pyrimidinones/thiones based fluorophores have been fabricated via a highly efficient, facile and simple one-pot synthetic approach. The synthesis of these organic fluorophores was nicely catalysed by the designed magnetically retrievable sulphonic acid tethered magnesium ferrite nanocatalyst. In the presence of nanocatalyst and ethanolic media, the desired products were isolated in excellent yields (up to 98.2 %) and within short duration of reaction time (7-28 min). Apart from this, the manufactured nanocatalyst was also characterized well with several characterization techniques such as Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), X‐ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET). The advantageous features of the designed catalyst include its smooth recovery, via externally applied magnetic forces, and its subsequent reusability (up to five cycles), highly stable nature, high efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Additionally, the prepared anthracene-incorporated pyrimidinones/thiones based fluorophores exhibited nano-aggregation induced emission enhanced behaviour, with the formation of nano-aggregates, in H2O-DMF medium.