Cascaded Excited‐State Intramolecular Proton Transfer Towards Near‐Infrared Organic Lasers Beyond 850 nm. (5th March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wu, Jun‐Jie; Zhuo, Ming‐Peng; Lai, Runchen; Zou, Sheng‐Nan; Yan, Chang‐Cun; Yuan, Yi; Yang, Sheng‐Yi; Wei, Guo‐Qing; Wang, Xue‐Dong; Liao, Liang‐Sheng
• Is Part Of: Angewandte Chemie. Volume 133:Number 16(2021)
• Page Start: 9196
• Page End: 9201
• Publication Date: 2021-03-05
• Subjects: excited-state double proton transfer -- near infrared -- organic single crystals -- organic solid-state lasers; Chemistry -- Periodicals; 540
• DOI: 10.1002/ange.202016786
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0044-8249

Abstract

Abstract: Near‐infrared (NIR) organic solid‐state lasers play an essential role in applications ranging from laser communication to infrared night vision, but progress in this area is restricted by the lack of effective excited‐state gain processes. Herein, we originally proposed and demonstrated the cascaded occurrence of excited‐state intramolecular proton transfer for constructing the completely new energy‐level systems. Cascading by the first ultrafast proton transfer of <430 fs and the subsequent irreversible second proton transfer of ca. 1.6 ps, the stepwise proton transfer process favors the true six‐level photophysical cycle, which supports efficient population inversion and thus NIR single‐mode lasing at 854 nm. This work realizes longest wavelength beyond 850 nm of organic single‐crystal lasing to date and originally exploits the cascaded excited‐state molecular proton transfer energy‐level systems for organic solid‐state lasers. Abstract : Six‐level energy systems are constructed through the cascaded occurrence of excited‐state intramolecular proton transfer consisting of a first ultrafast proton transfer of <430 fs and a following dominant and irreversible proton transfer of ca. 1.6 ps, which support the NIR single‐mode lasing at 854 nm for exploiting energy‐level systems of OSSLs, especially at the NIR region from 780 to 2500 nm.