Recent Advances in Functionalizations of Helicene Backbone

Helicenes, chiral members of the family of polyaromatic hydrocarbons, have been increasingly used in a variety of applications in recent years. Despite their intriguing properties, wider utilization is hindered by difficult functionalization of its skeleton, which would provide access to finely tuned derivatives of desired properties. Herein, the recent advancements in the field of helicene functionalization are discussed with an emphasis on different types of transformations, their versatility, and regioselectivity.

Circularly Polarized Luminescence in Nanoassemblies: Generation, Amplification, and Application

Currently, the development of circularly polarized luminescent (CPL) materials has drawn extensive attention due to the numerous potential applications in optical data storage, displays, backlights in 3D displays, and so on. While the fabrication of CPL-active materials generally requires chiral luminescent molecules, the introduction of the "self-assembly" concept offers a new perspective in obtaining the CPL-active materials. Following this approach, various self-assembled materials, including organic-, inorganic-, and hybrid systems can be endowed with CPL properties. Benefiting from the advantages of self-assembly, not only chiral molecules, but also achiral species, as well as inorganic nanoparticles have potential to be self-assembled into chiral nanoassemblies showing CPL activity. In addition, the dissymmetry factor, an important parameter of CPL materials, can be enhanced through various pathways of self-assembly. Here, the present status and progress of self-assembled nanomaterials with CPL activity are reviewed. An overview of the key factors in regulating chiral emission materials at the supramolecular level will largely boost their application in multidisciplinary fields.

Visible Circularly Polarized Luminescence of Octanuclear Circular Eu(III) Helicate

This work reports on the structural and photophysical characterization of D₄-symmetrical octanuclear circular Ln^III helicates, [(R)- or (S)-ⁱPr-Pybox]₈(Ln^III)₈(THP)₈ (where Ln = Eu and Tb, THP = trianionic tris-β-diketonate, and ⁱPr-Pybox = chiral bis(4-isopropyl-2-oxazolinyl)pyridine). X-ray crystallographic analysis revealed that the octanuclear circular helicate possesses square antiprism architecture and consists of four [(R)- or (S)-ⁱPr-Pybox]₂Ln^III₂(THP)₂ asymmetric units arranged in a closed ring form. Ligand-to-ligand interactions between the THP and the ⁱPr-Pybox ligands have successfully directed formation of enantiopure, homoconfigurational (Δ,Δ,Δ,Δ,Δ,Δ,Δ,Δ)-R and (Λ,Λ,Λ,Λ,Λ,Λ,Λ,Λ)-S isomers. All of the nonacoordinated Ln^III ions are identical and exhibit a distorted capped square antiprism (CSAP) geometry. Upon excitation of the ligand absorption band (λ = 360 nm), the circular helicates display characteristic Eu^III (red, ⁵D₀ → ⁷F_J, J = 0-4) or Tb^III (green, ⁵D₄ → ⁷F_J, J = 6-3) core f-f luminescence. The overall emission quantum yields of the circular Eu^III and Tb^III helicates are 0.145 and 0.0013, respectively, in chloroform. The Eu^III and Tb^III complexes exhibit remarkable circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) activity at their magnetic dipole transition with observed luminescence dissymmetry factors |g_lum| of 1.25 (⁵D₀ → ⁷F₁, λ = 592 nm) and 0.25 (⁵D₄ → ⁷F_5, λ = 541 nm), respectively. Exceptional |g_lum| values of the circular Eu^III helicates highlight the visible intensity difference between left and right circularly polarized emissions of R and S isomers in chloroform and PMMA thin film.

Designing Hybrid Chiral Photonic Films with Circularly Polarized Room-Temperature Phosphorescence

Circular polarized luminescence (CPL) is essential to chiral sciences and photonic technologies, but the achievement of circular polarized room-temperature phosphorescence (CPRTP) remains a great challenge due to the instability of triplet state excitons. Herein, we found that dual CPL and CPRTP were demonstrated by hybrid chiral photonic films designed by the coassembly of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs), poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), and carbon dots (CDs). Tunable photonic band gaps were achieved by regulating the ratio of CNC/PVA in the hybrid films, leading to tunable CPL with invertible handedness, tunable wavelengths, and considerable dissymmetric factors (g_lum) up to -0.27. In particularly, triplet excitons produced by CDs were stable in the chiral photonic crystal environment, resulting in tunable right-handed CPRTP with long lifetimes up to 103 ms and large RTP dissymmetric factors (g_RTP) up to -0.47. Moreover, patterned films with multiple polarized features were demonstrated by a mold technique.

Beyond Chiral Organic (p-Block) Chromophores for Circularly Polarized Luminescence: The Success of d-Block and f-Block Chiral Complexes

Chiral molecules are essential for the development of advanced technological applications in spintronic and photonic. The best systems should produce large circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) as estimated by their dissymmetry factor (g _lum), which can reach the maximum values of -2 ≤ g _lum ≤ 2 when either pure right- or left-handed polarized light is emitted after standard excitation. For matching this requirement, theoretical considerations indicate that optical transitions with large magnetic and weak electric transition dipole moments represent the holy grail of CPL. Because of their detrimental strong and allowed electric dipole transitions, popular chiral emissive organic molecules display generally moderate dissymmetry factors (10^-5 ≤ g _lum ≤ 10^-3). However, recent efforts in this field show that g _lum can be significantly enhanced when the chiral organic activators are part of chiral supramolecular assemblies or of liquid crystalline materials. At the other extreme, chiral Eu^III- and Sm^III-based complexes, which possess intra-shell parity-forbidden electric but allowed magnetic dipole transitions, have yielded the largest dissymmetry factor reported so far with g _lum ~ 1.38. Consequently, 4f-based metal complexes with strong CPL are currently the best candidates for potential technological applications. They however suffer from the need for highly pure samples and from considerable production costs. In this context, chiral earth-abundant and cheap d-block metal complexes benefit from a renewed interest according that their CPL signal can be optimized despite the larger covalency displayed by d-block cations compared with 4f-block analogs. This essay thus aims at providing a minimum overview of the theoretical aspects rationalizing circularly polarized luminescence and their exploitation for the design of chiral emissive metal complexes with strong CPL. Beyond the corroboration that f-f transitions are ideal candidates for generating large dissymmetry factors, a special attention is focused on the recent attempts to use chiral Cr^III-based complexes that reach values of g _lum up to 0.2. This could pave the way for replacing high-cost rare earths with cheap transition metals for CPL applications.

Lanthanide MOFs for inducing molecular chirality of achiral stilbazolium with strong circularly polarized luminescence and efficient energy transfer for color tuning

We present herein an innovative host–guest method to achieve induced molecular chirality from an achiral stilbazolium dye (DSM). The host–guest system is exquisitely designed by encapsulating the dye molecule in the molecule-sized chiral channel of homochiral lanthanide metal–organic frameworks (P-(+)/M-(−)-TbBTC), in which the P- or M-configuration of the dye is unidirectionally generated via a spatial confinement effect of the MOF and solidified by the dangling water molecules in the channel. Induced chirality of DSM is characterized by solid-state circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) and micro-area polarized emission of DSM@TbTBC, both excited with 514 nm light. A luminescence dissymmetry factor of 10⁻³ is obtained and the photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of the encapsulated DSM in DSM@TbTBC is ∼10%, which is close to the PLQY value of DSM in dilute dichloromethane. Color-tuning from green to red is achieved, owing to efficient energy transfer (up to 56%) from Ln³⁺ to the dye. Therefore, this study for the first time exhibits an elegant host–guest system that shows induced strong CPL emission and enables efficient energy transfer from the host chiral Ln-MOF to the achiral guest DSM with the emission color tuned from green to red.

Homochiral Ln-MOFs are synthesized to encapsulate achiral dyes to induce strong circularly polarized luminescence with a luminescence dissymmetry factor of 10⁻³.

Rational Design of the Platinahelicene Enantiomers for Deep-Red Circularly Polarized Organic Light-Emitting Diodes

[n]Helicene derivatives are most popular chiral structures to construct luminescent materials with circularly polarized (CP) light, which have revealed appealing application in chiral optoelectronics. Particularly, because of the unique phosphorescent emission, platinahelicene has great application prospects in CP organic light-emitting diode (CP-OLED). Herein, by decorating the pyridinyl-helicene ligand with trifluoromethyl (-CF₃) unit in a specific position, a pair of platinahelicene enantiomers was prepared and separated with extremely twisted structure showing not only superior thermal and configurational stability but also good CP luminescence (CPL) property with dissymmetry factors (|g_PL|) of 6 × 10⁻³. Moreover, the evaporated CP-OLEDs based on platinahelicene enantiomers exhibited the deep-red emission with the peak at 653 nm as well as obvious CP electroluminescence (CPEL) signals with the |g_EL| in 10⁻³ order. Therefore, the design strategy provides an efficient way to improve the CPL properties of platinahelicene to cope with the future application in CP-OLEDs.

Enhanced Circularly Polarized Luminescence Activity in Chiral Platinum(II) Complexes With Bis- or Triphenylphosphine Ligands

Distinct circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) activity was observed in chiral (C^∧N^∧N)Pt(II) [(C^∧N^∧N) = 4,5-pinene-6'-phenyl-2,2'-bipyridine] complexes with bis- or triphenylphosphine ligands. Compared to the pseudo-square-planar geometry of chiral (C^∧N^∧N)Pt(II) complexes with chloride, phenylacetylene (PPV) and 2,6-dimethylphenyl isocyanide (Dmpi) ligands, the coordination configuration around the Pt(II) nucleus of chiral (C^∧N^∧N)Pt(II) complexes with bulk phosphine ligands is far more distorted. The geometry is straightforwardly confirmed by X-ray crystallography. The phosphines' participation enhanced the CPL signal of Pt(II) complexes profoundly, with the dissymmetry factor (g _lum) up to 10^-3. The distorted structures and enhanced chiroptical signals were further confirmed by time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations.

Indole-Based Aza[n]helicenes (n=5, 6) with Violet-Blue Fluorescence and Two-Photon Absorption (TPA)

A series of indole-based helicenes, namely, 15-hexyl-15H-tetraphenyl[1,2-e]indole (HTPI), 14-hexyl-14H-benzo[4',5']thieno [2',3':7,8]naphtha[1,2-e]indole (HBTNI), 7-hexyl-7H-indolo[5,4-k] phenanthridine (HIPD) and 3-hexyl-3H-phenanthro[4,3-e]indole (HPI) were successfully synthesized by three- or four-step reactions. They exhibited good solubility and high thermal stability of T_d =247, 388, 294 and 251 °C, respectively. These compounds emit violet-blue light with maximum emission peaks at 415, 397, 397 and 391 nm in hexane. Among them, HBTNI had excellent thermal stability, narrow and sharp emission peaks, and highest photoluminescence quantum yield (0.32). Thus, HBTNI was an ideal candidate for the violet-blue emitters of OLEDs. Furthermore, the four compounds had two-photon absorption and two-photon excited fluorescence. HTPI showed the maximum TPA with the TPA cross-section (δ) of 171.5 GM at 770 nm. They were rare examples of helicenes with both violet-blue emission and TPA.

Preorganized helical chirality controlled homochiral self-assembly and circularly polarized luminescence of a quadruple-stranded Eu2L4 helicate

β-Diketones are one of the most widely used ligands for sensitizing the luminescence of lanthanide complexes due to their excellent sensitization abilities. However, the difficulties in introducing chiral groups to take part in the electronic transitions of conjugated systems limit their application in lanthanide circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) materials. In view of the inherent chirality of the helical structure, herein, a pair of homochiral quadruple-stranded helicates, Eu2L4, is assembled based on chiral bis-β-diketonate ligands, wherein the two point chirality centers in the spacer preorganize the helical conformation of the ligand (3S,4S)/(3R,4R)-3,4-bis(4,4'-bis(4,4,4-trifluoro-1,3-dioxobutyl)phenoxyl)-1-benzylpyrrolidine, LSS/LRR. X-ray crystallographic analyses reveal that the R,R configurations of the chiral carbons in the spacer induce the M helical sense of the ligand, while the S,S configurations induce the P helical sense. Through the comprehensive spectral characterization in combination with semiempirical geometry optimization using the Sparkle/RM1 model, it is confirmed that the preorganized ligands successfully control the homochirality of the helicates. Moreover, the mirror-image CD and CPL spectra and NMR measurements confirm the formation of enantiomeric pairs and their diastereopurities in solution. Detailed photophysical and chiroptical characterization studies reveal that the helicates not only exhibit intense circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) with |glum| values reaching 0.10, but also show a high luminescence quantum yield of 34%. This study effectively combines the helical chirality of the helicates with the excellent sensitization ability of the β-diketones, providing an effective strategy for the syntheses of chiral lanthanide CPL materials.

Rational Design of Axially Chiral Platinabinaphthalenes with Aggregation-Induced Emission for Red Circularly Polarized Phosphorescent Organic Light-Emitting Diodes

Circularly polarized luminescent (CPL) materials have received a lot of interest due to their potential applications in next-generation displays. However, the development of easily accessible red circularly polarized phosphorescent emitters for practical organic light-emitting diodes fabrication remains a grand challenge. In this paper, we report a new family of CPL-active platinum complexes based on the binaphthalene chiral platform. These axially chiral platinabinaphthalenes were facile synthesized by directly incorporating platinum(II) into the π-conjugated backbone of a commercially available enantiopure binaphthalene derivate. These complexes exhibit aggregation-induced circularly polarized phosphorescence enhancement with high quantum yields of up to 66% and luminescence dissymmetry factors of around 2.6 × 10^-3. Moreover, solution-processable circularly polarized organic light-emitting diodes (CPOLEDs) using these complexes as emitters show good performance with the maximum luminance of up to 3500 cd m^-2 and dissymmetry factor values of around 1.0 × 10^-3. These findings by the rational design of axially chiral platinabinaphthalenes are important for the development of high-performance CPL complexes for CPOLEDs.

Multi-color tunable circularly polarized luminescence in one single AIE system

Circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) materials with a large luminescence dissymmetry factor (g_lum) and multi-color properties are very attractive. While multi-color tunable CPL can be realized by different organic dyes, the challenge of realizing both a higher g_lum and multiple colors using a single component remains. Here, we design an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) fluorophore, which is a pyridine functionalized cyanostilbene attached to a chiral unit, and realize multi-color tunable CPL with a high g_lum. The compound can self-assemble into a nanohelix and form both gel and xerogel films, exhibiting blue CPL with large g_lum values of −3.0 × 10⁻² and −1.7 × 10⁻², respectively. With the assistance of pyridine protonation, the xerogel films exhibit red-shifted CPL signals from 480 nm to 530 nm, covering from blue via green and yellow to orange. Additionally, the g_lum remains constant during the process. This work paves a simple and convenient way to construct multi-color tunable CPL materials using a single molecule.

A multi-color tunable circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) xerogel film with a large luminescence dissymmetry factor (g_lum) is achieved using a single compound upon protonation.

From Prochiral N-Heterocyclic Carbenes to Optically Pure Metal Complexes: New Opportunities in Asymmetric Catalysis

Well-defined optically pure transition metal (TM) complexes bearing C₁- and C₂-symmetric N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands were prepared from prochiral NHC precursors. As predicted by DFT calculations, our strategy capitalizes on the formation of a metal-carbene bond which induces an axis of chirality. Configurationally stable atropisomers of various NHC-containing TM complexes were isolated by preparative HPLC on a chiral stationary phase in good yields and excellent optical purities (up to 99.5% ee). The carbene transfer from an optically pure Cu complex to a gold or palladium center reveals, for the first time, a full stereoretentivity, supporting the hypothesis of an associative mechanism for the transmetalation. The potential of these new chiral TM complexes was illustrated in asymmetric catalysis with up to 98% ee.

Photochemical Functionalization of Helicenes

Herein, a visible-light photochemical approach for practical helicene functionalization at very mild reaction conditions is described. The photochemical reactions allow for the regiospecific and innate late-stage functionalization of helicenes and are easily executed either through the activation of C(sp2 )-Br bonds in helicenes using K2 CO3 as inorganic base or direct C(sp2 )-H helicene bond functionalization under oxidative photoredox reaction conditions. Overall, using these transformations six different functional groups are introduced to the helicene scaffold through C-C and four different C-heteroatom bond-forming reactions.

Amplifying Dissymmetry Factor of Upconverted Circularly Polarized Luminescence through Chirality-Induced Spin Polarization in the Photon Upconversion Process

A general phenomenon about upconverted circularly polarized luminescence (UC-CPL) based on triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) was realized in an ambient environment by coupling three kinds of chiral acceptors with corresponding achiral sensitizers. All of the dissymmetry factors of UC-CPL exhibited significant amplification compared with the prompt CPL of the used chiral acceptors. Chirality-induced spin polarization during the TTA-UC process was in charge of the amplified dissymmetry factor of UC-CPL. Chirality-induced spin-polarized triplet excitons will suppress the TTA efficiency because the spin-polarized electrons go against the electron exchange within triplet excitons. However, the chirality-induced spin-polarized singlet excitons resulting from the TTA process can be promoted, enabling a large dissymmetry factor of UC-CPL.

A Highly Luminescent Chiral Tetrahedral Eu4L4(L')4 Cage: Chirality Induction, Chirality Memory, and Circularly Polarized Luminescence

Chiral lanthanide cages with circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) properties have found potential application in enantioselective guest recognition and sensing. However, it still remains a big challenge to develop a simple and robust method for the diastereoselective assembly of homochiral lanthanide cages in view of the large lability of the Ln(III) ions. Herein, we report the first example of the formation of a enantiopure lanthanide tetrahedral cage via a chiral ancillary ligand induction strategy. One such cage, (Eu₄L₄)(R/S-BINAPO)₄, is assembled by four achiral C₃-symmeric tris(β-diketones) (4,4',4″-tris(4,4,4-trifluoro-1,3-dioxobutyl)triphenylamine, L) as faces, four Eu(III) ions as vertices and four chiral R-/S-bis(diphenylphosphoryl)-1,1'-binaphthyl (R/S-BINAPO) as ancillary ligands. X-ray crystallography and NMR and CD spectra confirm the formation of a pair of enantiopure chiral topological tetrahedral cages, (Eu₄L₄)(R-BINAPO)₄ and (Eu₄L₄)(S-BINAPO)₄ (ΔΔΔΔ-1 and ΛΛΛΛ-1). As expected, the tetrahedral cages present strong CPL with |g_lum| values up to 0.20, while they unexpectedly give ultrahigh luminescent quantum yields (QYs) of up to 81%, the highest value reported in chiral Ln(III) complexes. More impressively, the chiral memory effect for a lanthanide-based assembly is observed for the first time. The chirality of the original cage 1 framework is retained after R/S-BINAPO is replaced by the achiral bis[2-(diphenylphosphino)phenyl] ether oxide (DPEPO), and thus another pair of enantiopure Eu(III) tetrahedral cages, ΔΔΔΔ- and ΛΛΛΛ-[(Eu₄L₄)(DPEPO)₄] (ΔΔΔΔ-2 and ΛΛΛΛ-2), have been isolated. Encouragingly, cage 2 also presents an impressive luminescence quantum yield (QY = 68%) and intense CPL (|g_lum| = 0.11). This study offers a simple and low-cost synthesis strategy for the preparation of lanthanide cages with CPL properties.

Synthesis and chiroptical properties of organometallic complexes of helicenic N-heterocyclic carbenes

Novel [4, 6]helicenes (4a,b) bearing a fused imidazolium unit have been prepared from [4, 6]helicene-2,3-di-n-propyl-amines 3a,b. The in situ formation of N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) derivatives followed by their complexation to iridium(I) or rhodium(I) gave access to complexes 1a, 1'a, and 1b, containing mono-coordinated helicene-NHC, chloro and COD (COD = 1,5-cyclooctadiene) ligands. Ir and Rh complexes 1a and 1'a were characterized by X-ray crystallography. HPLC and NMR analyses showed that Ir(I) complex 1b existed as a mixture of two diastereomeric complexes corresponding to enantiomeric pairs M-(-)/P-(+)-1b¹ and M-(-)/P-(+)-1b² which differ by the position of COD through space. The chiroptical properties (electronic circular dichroism and optical rotation) of the four stereoisomers were measured. These complexes were also tested as catalysts in a transfer hydrogenation reaction.

A [2]Rotaxane-Based Circularly Polarized Luminescence Switch

A rotaxane-based molecular shuttle has been synthesized in which the switching of the position of a fluorescent macrocycle on the thread turns “on” or “off” the circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) of the system while maintaining similar fluorescence profiles and quantum yields in both states. The chiroptical activity relies on the chiral information transfer from an ammonium salt incorporating d- or l-phenylalanine residues as chiral stereogenic covalent units to an otherwise achiral crown ether macrocycle bearing a luminescent 2,2′-bipyrene unit when they interact through hydrogen bonding. Each enantiomeric thread induces CPL responses of opposite signs on the macrocycle. Upon addition of base, the switching of the position of the macrocycle to a triazolium group disables the chiral information transfer to the macrocycle, switching “off” the CPL response. The in situ switching upon several acid/base cycles is also demonstrated.

Synthesis and Properties of Phospha[5]helicenes Bearing an Inner-Rim Phosphorus Center

New phospha[5]helicene derivatives featuring angular fusion of phosphole and carbohelicene moieties have been synthesized using 7-hydroxybenzo[ b]phosphole oxide as a key intermediate, which can be regioselectively prepared through one-pot multicomponent coupling. The structural behavior of the present phospha[5]helicene oxide, sulfide, and gold complex in the solid and solution states, along with DFT calculations, demonstrated close correlation between the P-centered chirality and the helical chirality as well as facile helicity inversion and equilibrium between the diastereomers in solution.

Configurationally Stable Platinahelicene Enantiomers for Efficient Circularly Polarized Phosphorescent Organic Light-Emitting Diodes

Chiral materials with circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) are potentially applicable for 3D displays. In this study, by decorating the pyridinyl-helicene ligands with -CF₃ and -F groups, the platinahelicene enantiomers featured superior configurational stability, as well as high sublimation yield (>90 %) and clear CPPL properties, with dissymmetry factors (|g_PL |) of approximately 3.7×10^-3 in solution and about 4.1×10^-3 in doped film. The evaporated circularly polarized phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (CP-PhOLEDs) with two enantiomers as emitters exhibited symmetric CPEL signals with |g_EL | of (1.1-1.6)×10^-3 and decent device performances, achieving a maximum brightness of 11 590 cd m^-2 , a maximum external quantum efficiency up to 18.81 %, which are the highest values among the reported devices based on chiral phosphorescent Pt^II complexes. To suppress the effect of reverse CPEL signal from the cathode reflection, the further implementation of semitransparent aluminum/silver cathode successfully boosts up the |g_EL | by over three times to 5.1×10^-3 .

Optically Active Upconverting Nanoparticles with Induced Circularly Polarized Luminescence and Enantioselectively Triggered Photopolymerization

In this work, lanthanide-doped upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) showing upconverted circularly polarized luminescence were demonstrated in an organic-inorganic co-assembled system. Achiral UCNPs (NaYF₄:Yb/Er or NaYF₄:Yb/Tm) can be encapsulated into chiral helical nanotubes through the procedure of co-gelation. These co-gel systems display intense upconverted circularly polarized luminescence (UC-CPL) ranging from ultraviolet (UV, 300 nm) to near-infrared (NIR, 850 nm) wavelength. In addition, the UV part of UC-CPL can be used to initiate the enantioselective polymerization of diacetylene.

Phosphahelicenes: From Chiroptical and Photophysical Properties to OLED Applications

Herein, the experimental physicochemical and chiroptical properties of a series of phosphahelicenes are reported, focusing on their UV/Vis absorption, luminescence, electronic circular dichroism, optical rotations, and circularly polarized luminescence. Furthermore, detailed analysis of absorption and ECD spectra performed with the help of quantum-chemical calculations allowed us to highlight general features of these helicenic phosphines. Finally, due to well-suited electrochemical properties and thermal stability, the systems were successfully used as emitters in organic light-emitting diodes.

Advances in helicene derivatives with circularly polarized luminescence

This review summarizes the recent research progress of helicenes and their derivatives with circularly polarized luminescence properties.

1D-helical platinum(ii) complexes bearing metal-induced chirality, aggregation-induced red phosphorescence, and circularly polarized luminescence

Binaphthyls-linked Pt(ii) complexes with metal-induced chirality self-assemble to build 1D M or P helices and show aggregation/racemization-induced and circularly polarized luminescence.

A kinetic resolution strategy for the synthesis of chiral octahedral NHC–iridium(iii) catalysts

The transmetalation reaction of a chiral-bidentate NHC–silver complex to racemic [lr(μ-Cl)(ppy)₂]₂ operates with kinetic resolution leading to chiral octahedral NHC–iridium(iii) complexes and enantio-enriched bis-cyclometalated iridium(iii) complexes.

Recent Theoretical and Experimental Progress in Circularly Polarized Luminescence of Small Organic Molecules

Small organic molecules (SOMs) with fascinating chiroptical properties have received much attention for their potential applications in photoelectric and biological devices. As an important research tool, circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) provides information about the chiral structures of these molecules in their excited state, and has been an active area of research. With the development of the commercially available CPL instrumentation, currently, more and more research groups have attempted to enhance the CPL parameters (i.e., quantum yield and dissymmetry factor) of the chiral SOMs from all aspects. This review summarizes the latest five years progresses in research on the experimental techniques and theoretical calculations of CPL emitted from SOMs, as well as forecasting its trend of development.

Amplified circularly polarized phosphorescence from co-assemblies of platinum(ii) complexes

Molecules capable of producing zero-field circularly polarized phosphorescence (CPP) are highly valuable for chiroptoelectronic applications that rely on triplet exciton. However, the paucity of tractable molecular design rules for obtaining CPP emission has inhibited full utilization. We report amplification of CPP by the formation of helical co-assemblies consisting of achiral square planar cycloplatinated complexes and small fractions of homochiral cycloplatinated complexes. The latter has a unique Pfeiffer effect during the formation of superhelical co-assemblies, enabling versatile chiroptical control. Large dissymmetry factors in electronic absorption (g _abs, 0.020) and phosphorescence emission (g _lum, 0.064) are observed from the co-assemblies. These values are two orders of magnitude improved relative to those of individual molecules. In addition, photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQY) also increase by a factor of ten. Our structural, photophysical, and quantum chemical investigations reveal that the chiroptical amplification is attributable to utilization of both the magnetically allowed electronic transition and asymmetric coupling of excitons. The strategy overcomes the trade-off between g _lum and PLQY which has frequently been found for previous molecular emitters of circularly polarized luminescence. It is anticipated that our study will provide new insight into the future research for the exploitation of the full potential of CPP.