Helical donor-acceptor platinum complexes displaying dual luminescence and near-infrared circularly polarized luminescence.

A series of chiral platina[5]helicenes displaying dual luminescence, i.e., fluorescence between 450 and 600 nm and red/NIR phosphorescence between 700 and 900 nm, has been synthesised, characterised and studied by first-principle calculations. This unusual behavior has been attributed to limited electronic interactions between the d orbitals of the metal and the π-orbitals of the organic ligand on the excited-state. Accordingly, the electron richness of the donor group on the helical ligand does not affect the energy of the phosphorescence process but does play a role on its efficiency. Interestingly, near-infrared circularly polarized luminescence can be obtained for the three complexes with dissymmetry factors up to 3 × 10-3 at 750 nm.