BN-doped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs) have attracted
numerous attentions because of their fascinating optical and electronic
properties. In this work, a series of electron-donor (amine)- and
-acceptor (borane)-functionalized BN-doped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
were prepared to study the substituents’ effect on the photophysical
properties. As a result, the compound with both donor and acceptor, BN, exhibits both local emission (LE) and charge-transfer
emission (CT) in polar solvents. Especially, the CT emission with
a longer wavelength revealed a lifetime as long as millisecond time
scale at room temperature, indicating typical phosphorescence characteristics.
Low-temperature photoluminescent (PL) spectroscopy and a theoretical
study were conducted to help to interpret this phenomenon, and it
turned out to be the lowering of the S1 energy level of BN which makes the intersystem crossing favorable. Furthermore,
fluoride anion titration experiments exhibit the application potential
of the dual-emission phenomenon of BN for ratiometric
sensory materials.