The rationalization of the molecular parameters that influence the intensity and sign of circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) for chiral emitters is a challenging task and remains of high interest for future chiral optoelectronic applications. In this report, we explore the design of novel chiral donor–acceptor structures based on C 2 -symmetric bicarbazole systems and compare the influence of the type of chirality, namely axial versus helical, and the electron withdrawing strength of the acceptor units on the resulting photophysical and CPL properties. By using carbonyl-based acceptors with both axial and helical electron donors, CP-Thermally Activated Delayed Fluoresence (TADF) can be obtained, whose efficiency depends on the dihedral angle between the carbazole moieties, related to the axial and helical chirality of the compounds. The latter also impacts the intensity of the CPL, which shows an opposite trend as a function of the polarity of the solvent, with a notably strong increase of the luminescence dissymmetry factor, g lum , for the helical donor–acceptor compounds related to a subtle reoarganization of the intramolecular charge-transfer process.
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Achieving high circularly polarized luminescence with push–pull helicenic systems: from rationalized design to top-emission CP-OLED applications
While the development of chiral molecules displaying circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) has received considerable attention, the corresponding CPL intensity, g lum, hardly exceeds 10 −2 at the molecular level owing to the difficulty in optimizing the key parameters governing such a luminescence process. To address this challenge, we report here the synthesis and chiroptical properties of a new family of π-helical push–pull systems based on carbo[6]helicene, where the latter acts as either a chiral electron acceptor or a donor unit. This comprehensive experimental and theoretical investigation shows that the magnitude and relative orientation of the electric ( μe ) and magnetic (μ m ) dipole transition moments can be tuned efficiently with regard to the molecular chiroptical properties, which results in high g lum values, i.e. up to 3–4 × 10 −2 . Our investigations revealed that the optimized mutual orientation of the electric and magnetic dipoles in the excited state is a crucial parameter to achieve intense helicene-mediated exciton coupling, which is a major contributor to the obtained strong CPL. Finally, top-emission CP-OLEDs were fabricated through vapor deposition, which afforded a promising g El of around 8 × 10 −3 . These results bring about further molecular design guidelines to reach high CPL intensity and offer new insights into the development of innovative CP-OLED architectures.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1855470
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10253416
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Chemical Science
- Volume:
- 12
- Issue:
- 15
- ISSN:
- 2041-6520
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 5522 to 5533
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract Strong circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) at 1550 nm is reported for lanthanide complexes supported by Vanol; these are the first examples of coordination of Vanol to lanthanides. A change in the ligand design from a 1,1’‐bi‐2‐naphthol (in Binol) to a 2,2’‐bi‐1‐naphthol (in Vanol) results in significantly improved dissymmetry factors for (Vanol)3ErNa3(|
g lum|=0.64) at 1550 nm. This is among the highest reported dissymmetry factors to date in the telecom C‐band region, and among the highest for any lanthanide complexes. Comparative solid‐state structural analysis of (Vanol)3ErNa3and (Binol)3ErNa3suggests that a less distorted geometry around the metal center is in part responsible for the high chiroptical metrics of (Vanol)3ErNa3. This phenomenon was further evidenced in the analogous ytterbium complex (Vanol)3YbNa3that also exhibit a significantly improved dissymmetry factor (|g lum|=0.21). This confirms and generalizes the same observation that was made in other visibly emitting, six‐coordinate lanthanide complexes. Due to their strong CPL at 1550 nm, the reported complexes are potential candidates for applications in quantum communication technologies. More importantly, our structure‐CPL activity relationship study provides guidance towards the generation of even better near‐infrared CPL emitters. -
We describe the synthesis of C 2 -symmetrical enantiopure lanthanide complexes (Tb, Eu, Sm, Dy) supported by the decadentate ligand N , N , N ′, N ′-tetrakis[(6-carboxypyridin-2-yl)methyl]-1,2-diaminocyclohexane (tpadac). The chiral tpadac ligand was designed to protect the lanthanide center from coordination of inner-sphere water molecules resulting in air- and water-stable, and highly luminescent complexes in water. The complexes exhibit strong chiroptical properties, with high dissymmetry factors g lum (0.11 to 0.25) and CPL brightness B CPL (up to 245 M −1 cm −1 for Tb, λ exc 295 nm, λ em 544 nm) in water. These are the first example of aqueous Sm CPL and second example of aqueous Dy CPL reported to date. The lanthanide complexes obtained gave a reversible CPL response to pH ranging from 6.0 to 8.0. In addition, distinctive CPL responses (including a change in CPL sign) towards toxic cations (Pb 2+ , Cd 2+ , and Mn 2+ ) were also observed, demonstrating the potential of our complexes to be used as aqueous probes.more » « less
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Synthesis of two dithia[9]helicenes by means of a LED-based double photocyclization is reported. The compounds have sulfur atoms placed at the terminal rings of the helicene, and they display two alternative C 2 -symmetrical arrangements named exo (1) and endo (2). Separation of enantiomers of opposite helicity allowed the complete characterization in solution, in silico , by X-ray crystallography, and adsorbed on gold. The theoretical analysis confirms the unexpected finding that endo -dithia[9]helicene displays an experimental dissymmetry factor ( g lum ) in CPL larger than its isomer exo -dithia[9]helicene (–0.0125 vs. −0.0042). This enhanced g lum factor ranks among the largest for a helicene-type molecule. Comparison with smaller analogues, namely exo and endo -dithia[7]helicenes (10 and 11, respectively), is also presented.more » « less
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Abstract The first enantiopure chiral‐at‐rhenium complexes of the form
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1039/D0SC06895K
