An emission enhancement strategy realized by introducing phosphorescent antennas and complexing with Cucurbit[7]uril

• Published in: Materials today chemistry Vol. 29; p. 101393
• Main Authors: Zhang, Z.-Y., Lv, J.-F., Li, L., Dong, M., Zhang, J.-J., Cui, H., Tang, X., Guo, D., Zhou, Y., Zhang, Y.-Y., Ding, B., Wang, X., Li, C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.04.2023
• Subjects: cucurbit[n]uril; Host-guest interaction; photoluminescence; Ru(bpy)3; Supramolecular chemistry; cucurbit[n]uril; photoluminescence; Host-guest interaction; Ru(bpy)3; Supramolecular chemistry
• ISSN: 2468-5194; 2468-5194
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mtchem.2023.101393

An emission enhancement strategy was realized in this study by introducing phosphorescent antennas and complexing with cucurbit[7]uril (CB [7]). The phenylpyridinium antenna units were attached covalently to the luminescence center of Ru (bpy)32+ by a two-step reaction. The resulting compounds showed strong near-infrared emission with quantum efficiencies as high as 6.6% in aerated water. Furthermore, complexing with CB [7] significantly enhanced their emission and improved quantum efficiency to a record value of 11.0% in aerated water by suppressing nonradiative decay of triplet state and improving intramolecular energy transfer. This result provided a general strategy for emission enhancement and will likely promote development of organic photoluminescence. [Display omitted] •An emission enhancement strategy was realized by attaching phenylpyridiniums to the Ru (bpy)32+ and complexing with CB [7].•The resulting three compounds showed strong near-infrared emission with the quantum efficiencies of 6.6% in aerated water.•Complexing with CB [7] enormously enhanced their emission and improved the quantum efficiency to 11.0% in aerated water.•The enhancement is because of suppressing nonradiative decay of triplet state and improving intramolecular energy transfer.•This strategy has the potential to be extended to other complexes with d6 metals (RuII, IrIII, OsIII, ReI, etc.).