Organic supramolecular room-temperature phosphorescence featuring profound dependence on host-guest binding behaviors

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed tremendous progresses in the field of cucurbit[n]uril (CB[n])-based organic supramolecular room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP). However, the relationship between phosphorescence property and host-guest binding behaviors has been ignored in this research area. Herein, three guest compounds (G1, G2 and G3), featuring a same luminescence core (4-(4-bromophenyl)-1-methylpyridinium chloride) and the relatively similar molecular phosphorescence properties, can form 1:1 complexes with phCB[6] respectively in an order of descending enwrapping degrees (phCB[6]/G1 > phCB[6]/G2 > phCB[6]/G3), along with which The RTP quantum yields of these three supramolecular complexes in solid state show a distinctly decreasing trend, thereby demonstrating an obvious influence of host-guest binding behaviors on phosphorescence performance. This work may provide a new idea for the design of high-performance RTP materials.