Novel mesostructures of a stilbazolium-like dye based on multistage association

Novel peony-like as well as actinia-like mesostructures were prepared from a stilbazolium-like dye by changing the quality of the solvent. The architecture evolutions of these mesostructures at the earlier stages of their formation confirm that the mesostructures result from multistage aggregation processes. Combining the results obtained from the correlated spectroscopy (COSY) and two-dimensional nuclear Overhauser effect spectroscopy (2D NOESY) experiments with those from the UV/vis absorption and fluorescence spectra, as well as the XRD measurements, possible formation mechanism based on different intermolecular interactions were proposed.