Issue 24, 2022

Red aqueous room-temperature phosphorescence modulated by anion–π and intermolecular electronic coupling interactions

Abstract

Aqueous room temperature phosphorescence (aRTP) from purely organic materials has been intriguing but challenging. In this article, we demonstrated that the red aRTP emission of 2Br–NDI, a water-soluble 4,9-dibromonaphthalene diimide derivative as a chloride salt, could be modulated by anion–π and intermolecular electronic coupling interactions in water. Specifically, the rarely reported stabilization of anion–π interactions in water between Cl and the 2Br–NDI core was experimentally evidenced by an anion–π induced long-lived emission (λAnion–π) of 2Br–NDI, acting as a competitive decay pathway against the intrinsic red aRTP emission (λPhos) of 2Br–NDI. In the initial expectation of enhancing the aRTP of 2Br–NDI by inclusion complexation with macrocyclic cucurbit[n]urils (CB[n]s, n = 7, 8, 10), we surprisingly found that the exclusion complexation between CB[8] and 2Br–NDI unconventionally endowed the complex with the strongest and longest-lived aRTP due to the strong intermolecular electronic coupling between the nπ* orbit on the carbonyl rims of CB[8] and the ππ* orbit on 2Br–NDI in water. It is anticipated that these intriguing findings may inspire and expand the exploration of aqueous anion–π recognition and CB[n]-based aRTP materials.

Graphical abstract: Red aqueous room-temperature phosphorescence modulated by anion–π and intermolecular electronic coupling interactions

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
20 Nov 2021
Accepted
25 May 2022
First published
25 May 2022
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2022,13, 7247-7255

Red aqueous room-temperature phosphorescence modulated by anion–π and intermolecular electronic coupling interactions

F. Liu, H. Yang, D. Sun, F. Gao, X. Zhang, Z. Zhao, X. Han and S. Liu, Chem. Sci., 2022, 13, 7247 DOI: 10.1039/D1SC06503C

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