Organic Room-Temperature Phosphorescence with Strong Circularly Polarized Luminescence Based on Paracyclophanes

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2019 Nov 25;58(48):17220-17225. doi: 10.1002/anie.201909076. Epub 2019 Oct 22.

Abstract

Pure organic materials with intrinsic room-temperature phosphorescence typically rely on heavy atoms or heteroatoms. Two different strategies towards constructing organic room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) species based upon the through-space charge transfer (TSCT) unit of [2.2]paracyclophane (PCP) were demonstrated. Materials with bromine atoms, PCP-BrCz and PPCP-BrCz, exhibit RTP lifetime of around 100 ms. Modulating the PCP core with non-halogen-containing electron-withdrawing units, PCP-TNTCz and PCP-PyCNCz, successfully elongate the RTP lifetime to 313.59 and 528.00 ms, respectively, the afterglow of which is visible for several seconds under ambient conditions. The PCP-TNTCz and PCP-PyCNCz enantiomers display excellent circular polarized luminescence with dissymmetry factors as high as -1.2×10-2 in toluene solutions, and decent RTP lifetime of around 300 ms for PCP-TNTCz enantiomers in crystalline state.

Keywords: circular polarization; dissymmetry factor; luminescence; organic room-temperature phosphorescence; paracyclophane.