Enhancement of the Phosphorescence of Organic Luminophores upon Interaction with a Mercury Trifunctional Lewis Acid

The interaction of the trinuclear mercury(II) complex [(o-C6F4Hg)3] (1) and pyrene leads to the formation of the 1:1 adduct 1·pyrene. The crystal structure of this adduct reveals the existence of supramolecular stacks in which molecules of 1 and molecules of pyrene alternate along the infinite chains. Steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence measurements indicate the occurrence of a heavy atom effect which results in red, green, and blue (RGB) phosphorescent emissions for 1·pyrene, 1·naphthalene, and 1·biphenyl, respectively.