Activating efficient phosphorescence from purely organic materials by crystal design
Abstract
Phosphorescence is among the many functional features that, in practice, divide pure organic compounds from organometallics and inorganics. Considered to be practically non-phosphorescent, purely organic compounds (metal-free) are very rarely explored as emitters in phosphor applications, despite the emerging demand in this field. To defy this paradigm, we describe novel design principles to create purely organic materials demonstrating phosphorescence that can be turned on by incorporating halogen bonding into their crystals. By designing chromophores to contain triplet-producing aromatic aldehydes and triplet-promoting bromine, crystal-state halogen bonding can be made to direct the heavy atom effect to produce surprisingly efficient solid-state phosphorescence. When this chromophore is diluted into the crystal of a bi-halogenated, non-carbonyl analogue, ambient phosphorescent quantum yields reach 55%. Here, using this design, a series of pure organic phosphors are colour-tuned to emit blue, green, yellow and orange. From this initial discovery, a directed heavy atom design principle is demonstrated that will allow for the development of bright and practical purely organic phosphors.
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- Authors
- Bolton, O., Lee, K., Kim, H.-J., Lin, K. Y., & Kim, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kim, Jinsang
- Venue
- Nature Chemistry
- Published
- 2011-02-13
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 205-210
- ISSN
- 1755-4330 (ISSN-L)
- 1755-4349
- OpenAlex
- W1995673420
- Cited by
- 1,662
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 111 · 2025: 146 · 2024: 170 · 2023: 163 · 2022: 159 · 2021: 179 · 2020: 153 · 2019: 148 · 2018: 123 · 2017: 59 · 2016: 77 · 2015: 55 · 2014: 46 · 2013: 38 · 2012: 21
- FWCI
- 18.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- addendum (2011-03-15)
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Nature Chemistry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- National Research Foundation of Korea
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Luminescence and Fluorescent Materials
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Physical and Theoretical Chemistry › Crystallography and molecular interactions
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Research
- Keywords
- organic phosphorescence, halogen bonding, crystal engineering, heavy atom effect, triplet state emission, aromatic aldehydes, metal-free phosphors, chromophore design
- MeSH terms
- Crystallization, Fluorescent Dyes, Halogens, Molecular Conformation, Organic Chemicals, Organometallic Compounds, Phosphorus, Quantum Theory
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