A Permanent Porous Hydrogen-Bonded Framework with Room-Temperature Phosphorescence

Hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) based on metal-free organic materials with permanent porosity and phosphorescence are rarely reported. Herein, we report a pure organic phosphor of 1,3,5-tris((4-(9H-carbazol- 9-yl) phenyl)-methanone-1-yl)benzene (BPMCz) as a suitable building block to construct robust HOF materials. Apart from a good thermal stability, BPMCz-P1 exhibited a comparatively high CO2 adsorption and room-temperature phosphorescence with a lifetime of 1.8 ms under ambient conditions. The experimental and theoretical data clearly indicate that aromatic carbonyl groups not only play a critical role in forming intermolecular hydrogen bonds to construct HOFs but also facilitate pi-pi interactions to enable long-lived phosphorescence. The introduction of carbonyl groups in BPMCz-P1 successfully construct a metal-free porous framework with phosphorescence emission. This study will not only provide valuable guidelines for the construction of new HOFs with luminescent properties but also expand the scope of organic roomtemperature phosphorescent materials and their applications.

Automated summary

In this study, a pure organic phosphor BPMCz was utilized as a building block to construct HOF materials, displaying high CO2 adsorption and room-temperature phosphorescence with good thermal stability. The introduction of carbonyl groups in BPMCz successfully enabled the construction of a metal-free porous framework with long-lived phosphorescence emission, expanding the scope of organic room-temperature phosphorescent materials and their applications.