A series of Cu(I) complexes formulated as [Cu(2)(mu-X)(2)(PPh(3))(L)(n)] were prepared with various mono- and bidentate N-heteroaromatic ligands (X = Br, I; L = 4,4'-bipyridine, pyrazine, pyrimidine, 1,5-naphthyridine, 1,6-naphthyridine, quinazoline, N,N-dimethyl-4-aminopyridine, 3-benzoylpyridine, 4-benzoylpyridine; n = 1, 2). Single-crystal structure analyses revealed that all the complexes have planar {Cu(2)X(2)} units. Whereas those with monodentate N-heteroaromatic ligands afforded discrete dinuclear complexes, bidentate ligands formed infinite chain complexes with the ligands bridging the dimeric units. The long Cu...Cu distances (2.872-3.303 A) observed in these complexes indicated no substantial interaction between the two Cu(I) ions. The complexes showed strong emission at room temperature as well as at 80 K in the solid state. The emission spectra and lifetimes in the microsecond range were measured at room temperature and at 80 K. The emissions of the complexes varied from red to blue by the systematic selection of the N-heteroaromatic ligands (lambda(em)(max): 450 nm (L = N,N-dimethyl-4-aminopyridine) to 707 nm (L = pyrazine)), and were assigned to metal-to-ligand charge-transfer (MLCT) excited states with some mixing of the halide-to-ligand (XL) CT characters. The emission energies were successfully correlated with the reduction potentials of the coordinated N-heteroaromatic ligands, which were estimated by applying a simple modification based on the calculated stabilization energies of the ligands by protonation.

Near-infrared (NIR)-to-visible (vis) photon upconversion (UC) is useful for various applications; however, it remains challenging in triplet-triplet annihilation-based UC, mainly due to the energy loss during the S1-to-T1 intersystem crossing (ISC) of molecular sensitizers. In this work, we circumvent this energy loss by employing a sensitizer with direct S0-to-T1 absorption in the NIR region. A mixed solution of an osmium complex having a strong S0-T1 absorption and rubrene emitter upconverts NIR light (λ = 938 nm) to visible light (λ = 570 nm). Sensitizer-doped emitter nanoparticles are prepared by re-precipitation and dispersed into an oxygen-barrier polymer. The obtained composite film shows a stable NIR-to-vis UC emission based on triplet energy migration (TEM), even in air. A high UC quantum yield of 3.1% is observed for this TEM-UC system, expanding the scope of molecular sensitizers for NIR-to-vis UC.

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While many studies have been done on triplet–triplet annihilation‐based photon upconversion (TTA‐UC) to produce visible light with high efficiency, the efficient TTA‐UC from visible to UV light, despite its importance for a variety of solar and indoor applications, remains a challenging task. Here, we report the highest visible‐to‐UV TTA‐UC efficiency of 20.5 % based on the discovery of an excellent UV emitter, 1,4‐bis((triisopropylsilyl)ethynyl)naphthalene (TIPS‐Nph). TIPS‐Nph is an acceptor with desirable features of high fluorescence quantum yield and high singlet generation efficiency by TTA. TIPS‐Nph has a low enough triplet energy level to be sensitized by Ir(C6)2(acac), a superior donor that does not quench UV emission. The combination of TIPS‐Nph and Ir(C6)2(acac) realizes the efficient UV light production even with weak light sources such as an AM 1.5 solar simulator and room LEDs.

Photon upconversion (UC) from near-infrared (NIR) light to visible light has enabled optogenetic manipulations in deep tissues.H owever,m aterials for NIR optogenetics have been limited to inorganic UC nanoparticles.Herein, NIR-light-triggered optogenetics using biocompatible,organic TTA-UC hydrogels is reported. To achieve triplet sensitization even in highly viscous hydrogel matrices,aNIR-absorbing complex is covalently linked with energy-pooling acceptor chromophores,w hichs ignificantly elongates the donor triplet lifetime.T he donor and acceptor are solubilized in hydrogels formed from biocompatible Pluronic F127 micelles,a nd heat treatment endows the excited triplets in the hydrogel with remarkable oxygen tolerance.Combined with photoactivatable Cre recombinase technology,N IR-light stimulation successfully performs genome engineering resulting in the formation of dendritic-spine-like structures of hippocampal neurons.