Guest-host doped strategy for constructing ultralong-lifetime near-infrared organic phosphorescence materials for bioimaging

Abstract Organic near-infrared room temperature phosphorescence materials have unparalleled advantages in bioimaging due to their excellent penetrability. However, limited by the energy gap law, the near-infrared phosphorescence materials (>650 nm) are very rare, moreover, the phosphorescence lifetimes of these materials are very short. In this work, we have obtained organic room temperature phosphorescence materials with long wavelengths (600/657–681/732 nm) and long lifetimes (102–324 ms) for the first time through the guest-host doped strategy. The guest molecule has sufficient conjugation to reduce the lowest triplet energy level and the host assists the guest in exciton transfer and inhibits the non-radiative transition of guest excitons. These materials exhibit good tissue penetration in bioimaging. Thanks to the characteristic of long lifetime and long wavelength emissive phosphorescence materials, the tumor imaging in living mice with a signal to background ratio value as high as 43 is successfully realized. This work provides a practical solution for the construction of organic phosphorescence materials with both long wavelengths and long lifetimes.