W. Torres Delgado, C.A. Braun, M.P. Boone, O. Shynkaruk, Y. Qi, R. McDonald, M.J. Ferguson, P. Data , S.K.C. Almeida, I. de Aguiar, G.L.C. de Souza, A. Brown*, G. He*, and E. Rivard*
ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 10(15), 12124-12134.
Publication year: 2018

Previous research in our group showed that tellurophenes with pinacolboronate (BPin) units at the 2- and/or 5-positions displayed efficient phosphorescence in the solid state, both in the presence of oxygen and water. In this current study, we show that luminescence from a tellurophene is possible when various aryl-based substituents are present, thus greatly expanding the family of known (and potentially accessible) Te-based phosphors. Moreover, for the green phosphorescent perborylated tellurium heterocycle, 2,3,4,5-TeC4BPin4 (4BTe), oxygen-mediated quenching of phosphorescence is an important contributor to the lack of emission in solution (when exposed to air); thus, this system displays aggregation-enhanced emission (AEE). These discoveries should facilitate the future design of color tunable tellurium-based luminogens.

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