Trimercarbazole-based aggregation-induced fluorescence-to-phosphorescence-active gold(i) complexes: isomeric engineering of an auxiliary ligand for high-contrast hypsochromic phosphorescent mechanochromism

Abstract

Three novel trimercarbazole-based gold(I) complexes with positional isomeric auxiliary ligands are elaborately designed and developed. Notably, all these gold(I)-containing luminogens exhibit interesting aggregation-induced fluorescence-to-phosphorescence conversion and temperature-dependent phosphorescence characteristics. Furthermore, the gold(I) complex with an ortho-substituted trifluoromethylphenyl auxiliary ligand demonstrates high-contrast hypsochromic phosphorescent mechanochromism.