Heavy main group element containing organometallic phosphorescent materials

Abstract

In recent times, research on development of long lived emissive materials gained significant momentum due to their versatile applications in cutting edge technologies such as medical diagnosis, smart screens and sensors. Phosphorescence is generally observed from inorganic/organometallic complexes of 3rd row transition elements facilitated by spin orbit coupling. Though heavy metals of transition elements are known to produce phosphorescence upon complex formation, their high cost and toxicity limits their practical applications to certain extent. Heavy main group elements are recently shown to induce spin orbit coupling when incorporated into a suitable organic matrix and results in numerous phosphorescent materials. Given their advantages such as high abundance, low toxicity and economical viability, it is reasonable to synthesize and characterize such new entities in order to realise their potential applications in materials research. Recent years witnessed several novel examples of heavy main group element incorporated materials with fascinating phosphorescence properties and the results are summarized in this review.