Room temperature molecular up conversion in solution.
Up conversion is an Anti-Stokes luminescent process by which photons of low energy are piled up to generate light at a higher energy. Here we show that the addition of fluoride anions to a D2O solution of a macrocyclic erbium complex leads to the formation of a supramolecular [(ErL)2F](+) assembly in which fluoride is sandwiched between two complexes, held together by the synergistic interactions of the Er-F-Er bridging bond, four intercomplex hydrogen bonds and two aromatic stacking interactions. Room temperature excitation into the Er absorption bands at 980 nm of a solution of the complex in D2O results in the observation of up converted emission at 525, 550 and 650 nm attributed to Er centred transitions via a two-step excitation. The up conversion signal is dramatically increased upon formation of the [(ErL)2F](+) dimer in the presence of 0.5 equivalents of fluoride anions.
Laboratoire d'Ingénierie Moléculaire Appliquée à l'Analyse, IPHC, UMR 7178 CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, ECPM, Bât R1N0, 25 rue Becquerel, Strasbourg, 67087, France.
Aline
A
Nonat
Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong SAR, Hong Kong.
Chi Fai
CF
Chan
Laboratoire d'Ingénierie Moléculaire Appliquée à l'Analyse, IPHC, UMR 7178 CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, ECPM, Bât R1N0, 25 rue Becquerel, Strasbourg, 67087, France.|Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong SAR, Hong Kong.
Tao
T
Liu
Centro de Investigaciones Científicas Avanzadas, Departamento de Química Fundamental, Universidade da Coruña, Campus da Zapateira, Rúa da Fraga 10, A Coruña 15008, Spain.
Carlos
C
Platas-Iglesias
State Key Laboratory of Chirosciences, Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Zhenyu
Z
Liu
State Key Laboratory of Chirosciences, Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong.|Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, Hong Kong.
Wing-Tak
WT
Wong
Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong SAR, Hong Kong.
Wai-Kwok
WK
Wong
Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong SAR, Hong Kong.
Ka-Leung
KL
Wong
Laboratoire d'Ingénierie Moléculaire Appliquée à l'Analyse, IPHC, UMR 7178 CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, ECPM, Bât R1N0, 25 rue Becquerel, Strasbourg, 67087, France.
Loïc J
LJ
Charbonnière