Tunable Second-Level Room-Temperature Phosphorescence of Solid Supramolecules between Acrylamide-Phenylpyridium Copolymers and Cucurbit[7]uril

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2022 Feb 1;61(6):e202115265. doi: 10.1002/anie.202115265. Epub 2021 Dec 21.

Abstract

A series of solid supramolecules based on acrylamide-phenylpyridium copolymers with various substituent groups (P-R: R=-CN, -CO2 Et, -Me, -CF3 ) and cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) are constructed to exhibit tunable second-level (from 0.9 s to 2.2 s) room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) in the amorphous state. Compared with other solid supramolecules P-R/CB[7] (R=-CN, -CO2 Et, -Me), P-CF3 /CB[7] displays the longest lifetime (2.2 s), which is probably attributed to the fluorophilic interaction of cucurbiturils leading to a uncommon host-guest interaction between 4-phenylpyridium with -CF3 and CB[7]. Furthermore, the RTP solid supramolecular assembly (donors) can further react with organic dyes Eosin Y or SR101 (acceptors) to form ternary supramolecular systems featuring ultralong phosphorescence energy transfer (PpET) and visible delayed fluorescence (yellow for EY at 568 nm and red for SR101 at 620 nm). Significantly, the ultralong multicolor PpET supramolecular assembly can be further applied in fields of anti-counterfeiting and information encryption and painting.

Keywords: Cucurbituril; Energy transfer; Phosphorescence; Supramolecules; Ultralong lifetime.