ABSTRACT
Cationic lanthanide complexes are generally able to spontaneously internalize into living cells. Following our previous works based on a diMe-cyclen framework, a second generation of cationic water-soluble lanthanide complexes based on a constrained cross-bridged cyclam macrocycle functionalized with donor-π-conjugated picolinate antennas was prepared with europium(III) and ytterbium(III). Their spectroscopic properties were thoroughly investigated in various solvents and rationalized with the help of DFT calculations. A significant improvement was observed in the case of the Eu3+ complex, while the Yb3+ analogue conserved photophysical properties in aqueous solvent. Two-photon (2P) microscopy imaging experiments on living T24 human cancer cells confirmed the spontaneous internalization of the probes and images with good signal-to-noise ratio were obtained in the classic NIR-to-visible configuration with the Eu3+ luminescent bioprobe and in the NIR-to-NIR with the Yb3+ one.
Subject(s)
Coordination Complexes/chemistry , Lanthanoid Series Elements/chemistry , Luminescent Agents/chemistry , Macrocyclic Compounds/chemistry , Optical Imaging , Photons , Cations/chemistry , Cell Line, Tumor , Coordination Complexes/chemical synthesis , Density Functional Theory , Humans , Luminescent Agents/chemical synthesis , Macrocyclic Compounds/chemical synthesis , Molecular Structure , Spectroscopy, Near-InfraredABSTRACT
It is commonly accepted that a full bandgap voltage is required to achieving efficient electroluminescence (EL) in organic light-emitting diodes. In this work, we demonstrated organic molecules with a large singlet-triplet splitting can achieve efficient EL at voltages below the bandgap voltage. The EL originates from delayed fluorescence due to triplet fusion. Finally, in spite of a lower quantum efficiency, a blue fluorescent organic light-emitting diode having a power efficiency higher than some of the best thermally activated delayed fluorescent and phosphorescent blue organic light-emitting diodes is demonstrated. The current findings suggest that leveraging triplet fusion from purely organic molecules in organic light-emitting diode materials offers an alternative route to achieve stable and high efficiency blue organic light-emitting diodes.
