Observation of Chiral-selective room-temperature phosphorescence enhancement via chirality-dependent energy transfer

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 1514
• Main Authors: Chen, Biao, Huang, Wenhuan, Zhang, Guoqing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 18.03.2023; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 140/131; 140/58; 639/301/923/3931; 639/638/298/398; 639/638/440/527/1819; Afterglows; Alcohols; Chirality; Data encryption; Energy; Energy transfer; Humanities and Social Sciences; Lifetime; multidisciplinary; Phosphorescence; Phthalimide; Phthalimides; Room temperature; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Temperature dependence
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37157-w
• ISSN: 2041-1723

Pure organic room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP), particularly from guest-host doped systems, has seen exponential growth in the last several years due to their high modulation flexibility, and yet challenges remain with respect to mechanistic elucidations and advantageous applications. Here we show that by constructing guest-host doped RTP systems from chiral components, namely, chiral amino compound-modified phthalimide hosts and naphthalimide guests, a chiral-selective RTP enhancement phenomenon can be observed. For example, R -enantiomeric guests in R -enantiomeric hosts produce strong red RTP afterglow while no appreciable RTP could be observed in the S-R guest-host counterpart. An unprecedented RTP intensity difference > 10 2 folds with the ability to distinguish an enantiomeric excess of 98% could be achieved. Temperature-dependent measurements suggest that a chirality-dependent energy transfer process may be involved in the observed phenomenon, which can be harnessed to extend the RTP application to the chiral recognition of amino compounds, such as amino alcohols. Despite increasing interest in organic room temperature phosphorescence, it can still be challenging to determine mechanism and develop practical applications. Here, the authors report room temperature phosphorescent systems from chiral components, with strong phosphorescence observed only when both host and guest had the same chirality.