A water-soluble luminescent tris(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl)methyl radical-carbazole dyad.

Organic luminescent radicals are a new class of materials with potential applications not only in light-emitting devices but also in the biochemistry field. New tris(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl)methyl (TTM) radicals with alkoxy-substituted carbazole donors were synthesized and characterized. PEG-substituted carbazole-TTM was found to be water-soluble. The water-soluble TTM radical aqueous solution showed fluorescence at 777 nm and the ability to shorten the longitudinal relaxation time ( T 1 ) of water. The concept of water-soluble luminescent radicals is expected to be used to develop a potential fluorescence and MR dual-use imaging moiety.