A fluorescent and phosphorescent nanoporous solid: crystalline calix[4]arene
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Updated: Jul 5, 2026

Synthesis and Calibration of Phosphorescent Nanoprobes for Oxygen Imaging in Biological Systems
Published on: March 3, 2010
Issam Oueslati1, Anthony W Coleman, Baltazar de Castro
1Centro de Química-Física Molecular, Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001, Lisboa, Portugal. issam.oueslati@ist.utl.pt
Abstract:
Calix[4]arene forms elongated nanoporous microcrystals. The pores are linear nano-channels (1.7 nm diameter) arranged in a honeycomb network. The crystals luminesce at room temperature according to a variety of processes that include monomer fluorescence (lifetime of ca. 1.1 ns), dimer fluorescence (lifetime of ca. 5.4 ns), and monomer phosphorescence (lifetime of ca. 2 s). The dimers result from pi-orbital overlap of adjacent phenol groups from neighboring nano-channels, with C-C distances of ca. 4 A.
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