Room-temperature phosphorescence and aggregation behavior in chiral heavy-atom-free organic molecules

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2025 Feb 5:326:125247. doi: 10.1016/j.saa.2024.125247. Epub 2024 Oct 5.

Abstract

Purely organic room temperature phosphorescence materials (RTP) have attracted much attention recently, but most of them are substituted with heavy atoms to enhance the intersystem crossing (ISC), which requires complicated design and synthesis. Herein, we report four chiral heavy-atom-free small molecules which integrate properties of aggregation and long-lifetime room temperature phosphorescence. The phosphorescence lifetime of synthesized chiral molecules is measured to be 150 ms, and the phosphorescence quantum yield reaches 15 % at room temperature. The twisted chiral conformation of four molecules not only affect aggregation photoluminescence properties but also can synergistically stabilize triplet exciton in the triplet excited states for excellent ISC efficiency. This strategy enriches the application fields of chiral aggregated long-lifetime room temperature phosphorescent materials.

Keywords: Aggregation; Chirality; Heavy-atom-free; Room temperature phosphorescence; Twisted configuration.