Lyotropic Chromonic Mesophases of Chiral Organopalladium(II) Complexes for Amplified Circularly Polarized Phosphorescence

Abstract

Herein, it is reported that lyotropic liquid crystals that transfer carbon‐centered chirality to helical chirality and subsequently to macroscopic chirality in the mesophases. This process is accompanied by remarkable amplification of both emission quantum yield and dissymmetry factor of the circularly polarized luminescence (CPL). Cationic tridentate cyclometalated Pd(II) complexes, once functionalized with chiral hydrogen‐bonding motifs of amide, aggregated into head‐to‐tail dimers at low concentrations in acetonitrile and further self‐organized into chiral lyotropic chromonic mesophases upon concentrated to 50 wt.%. At 25 °C, the chiral chromonics display metal–metal‐to‐ligand charge‐transfer (MMLCT) phosphorescence at an emission maximum of 677 nm with quantum yields up to 38% and lifetimes up to 0.50 µs. Notably, the dissymmetry factors ranged from 0.10 to 0.76, varying with the sample thickness in the range of 200–15 µm. Comparison studies and theoretical calculations reveal that the hydrogen‐bonding amide group is pivotal for the formation of the staggered configuration in the helical superstructures. Additionally, the carbon‐centered chirality of the amide dictate the handedness of the helices and consequently influenced the properties of CPL.