Boost the Circularly Polarized Phosphorescence of Chiral Organometallic Platinum Complexes by Hierarchical Assembly...

Circularly polarized luminescence (CPL)-active molecular materials have drawn increasing attention due to their promising applications for next-generation display and optoelectronic technologies. Currently, it is challenging to obtain CPL materials with both large luminescence dissymmetry factor (g_lum) and high quantum yield (Φ). A pair of enantiomeric N N C-type Pt(II) complexes (L/D)-1 modified with chiral Leucine methyl ester are presented herein. Though the solutions of these complexes are CPL-inactive, the spin-coated thin films of (L/D)-1 exhibit giantly-amplified circularly polarized phosphorescences with |g_lum| of 0.53 at 560 nm and Φ_air of ~50 %, as well as appealing circular dichroism (CD) signals with the maximum absorption dissymmetry factor |g_abs| of 0.37-0.43 at 480 nm. This superior CPL performance benefits from the hierarchical formation of crystalline fibrillar networks upon spin coating. Comparative studies of another pair of chiral Pt(II) complexes (L/D)-2 with a symmetric N C N coordination mode suggest that the asymmetric N N C coordination of (L/D)-1 are favorable for the efficient exciton delocalization to amplify the CPL performance. Optical applications of the thin films of (L/D)-1 in CPL-contrast imaging and inducing CP light generation from achiral emitters and common light-emitting diode lamps have been successfully realized.