Supramolecular assembly confined purely organic room temperature phosphorescence and its biological imaging

Purely organic room temperature phosphorescence, especially in aqueous solution, is attracting increasing attention owing to its large Stokes shift, long lifetime, low preparation cost, low toxicity, good processing performance advantages, and broad application value. This review mainly focuses on macrocyclic (cyclodextrin and cucurbituril) hosts, nanoassembly, and macromolecule (polyether) confinement-driven RTP. As an optical probe, the assembly and the two-stage assembly strategy can realize the confined purely organic RTP and achieve energy transfer and light-harvesting from fluorescence to delayed fluorescence or phosphorescence. This supramolecular assembly is widely applied for luminescent materials, cell imaging, and other fields because it effectively avoids oxygen quenching. In addition, the near-infrared excitation, near-infrared emission, and in situ imaging of purely organic room temperature phosphorescence in assembled confinement materials are also prospected.