Realization of multi-configurable logic gate behaviour on fluorescence switching signalling of naphthalene diimide congeners

Organic entities like suitably functionalized naphthalene diimide (NDI) exhibited logical behaviours in response to various external stimuli and can be used to develop digital logic operations. The present findings include utilization of two congeners of NDI i.e., N1 and N2 for the successive turning ON/OFF of fluorescence with inclusion of acid and base. The recognition of the switching phenomenon of the probes N1 and N2 are applied to construct fundamental digital logic gates such as NOT, YES, IMPLICATION, INHIBIT, etc. The inputs to each of the logic gates are defined by the presence or absence of acid and base. Accordingly, the outputs generated from the gates are in the form of fluorescence ON or OFF status denoted by “1” and “0” respectively. Likewise, we have adopted Boolean algebra and its associated De-Morgan's theorem to build the combined logic gates such as XOR and XNOR gates. The proposed logic gates are validated by the optical behaviour of the congeners N1 and N2 in response to acid as well as base and the experimental results are confirmed by the theoretical predictions. The proposed work can have potential applications in next-generation logic based analytical applications.