Charge–Transfer Fluorescence and Room-Temperature Phosphorescence from a Bisamide-Based Derivative

Abstract

The development of organic luminescent materials with bimodal emissions of both fluorescence and room-temperature phosphorescent (RTP) remains a challenge. The investigation of the relationship between fluorescence and RTP performance is especially rare. In this work, we obtained an organic luminescent molecule, 1,4-phenylenebis((9H-carbazol-9-yl)methanone) (PBCM), which exhibits bimodal emissions of cyan fluorescence and yellow RTP in its crystalline state through adopting an electron donor–acceptor–donor (D–A–D) structure. The charge–transfer (CT) effects in the bimodal luminescent properties of PBCM, as well as the single-crystal structures and thermal properties, were investigated. It was found that the CT effect in the singlet states effectively reduces the ∆Est and promotes the ISC processes, resulting in an efficient phosphorescence of PBCM at room temperature. In addition, many strong intermolecular interactions are formed between the donor and acceptor parts of adjacent molecules, leading to the rigid configurations and compact packing of molecules in crystals, which was also confirmed to facilitate the efficient bimodal emissions of PBCM.

Keywords

• charge-transfer
• photoluminescence
• molecular interactions