Room temperature phosphorescence from a benzothiophene-based N–B–N multi-resonance core

Durai Karthik; Abhishek Kumar Gupta; Eli Zysman-Colman

doi:10.1039/D5QM00893J

Room temperature phosphorescence from a benzothiophene-based N–B–N multi-resonance core

Durai Karthik, Abhishek Kumar Gupta, Eli Zysman-Colman^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We report a design strategy that enables room temperature phosphorescence from an N–B–N type heterocycle, reminiscent of a multi-resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR-TADF) compound, by disturbing the alternating frontier molecular orbital distribution pattern through five-membered ring fusion with the boron atom. The 2 wt% doped film in mCP host showed a long phosphorescence lifetime of 51.5 ms at 571 nm at room temperature, with an afterglow visible for up to 1 s.

Original language	English
Number of pages	8
Journal	Materials Chemistry Frontiers
Volume	Advance Article
Early online date	27 Jan 2026
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1039/D5QM00893J
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 27 Jan 2026

Keywords

Room temperature phosphorescence
Metal-free emitters
Benzothiophene
Multi-resonance TADF
Triplet excitons

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10.1039/D5QM00893J

Karthik_2026_MCF_Room-temperature-phosphorescence_AAM_CCBY
Copyright © 2026 the Authors. This work has been made available online in accordance with the University of St Andrews Open Access policy. This accepted manuscript is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1039/D5QM00893J
Accepted author manuscript, 2.13 MBLicence: CC BY

1 Finished
2 Active

Allan Watson Programme Grant: Boron: Beyond the Reagent
Watson, A. (PI), Morris, R. (CoI), Smith, A. (CoI) & Zysman-Colman, E. (CoI)
UK Research and Innovation
1/05/23 → 30/04/28
Project: Standard
Going Deeper with Boron: Near-infrared emitting TADF materials based on very strong organoboron acceptors
Zysman-Colman, E. (PI)
The Leverhulme Trust
1/07/22 → 31/08/26
Project: Standard
Chemistry EPSRC-JSPS: EPSRC-JSPS Core-to-Core Grant Application
Zysman-Colman, E. (PI)
1/08/18 → 31/01/24
Project: Standard

Room Temperature Phosphorescence from a Benzothiophenebased N-B-N Multi-Resonance Core (dataset)
Durai, K. (Creator), Gupta, A. (Creator) & Zysman-Colman, E. (Creator), University of St Andrews, 30 Jan 2026
DOI: 10.17630/35824801-2ed5-458d-a7d8-2fd3a1593f27
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Cite this

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title = "Room temperature phosphorescence from a benzothiophene-based N–B–N multi-resonance core",

abstract = "We report a design strategy that enables room temperature phosphorescence from an N–B–N type heterocycle, reminiscent of a multi-resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR-TADF) compound, by disturbing the alternating frontier molecular orbital distribution pattern through five-membered ring fusion with the boron atom. The 2 wt\% doped film in mCP host showed a long phosphorescence lifetime of 51.5 ms at 571 nm at room temperature, with an afterglow visible for up to 1 s.",

keywords = "Room temperature phosphorescence, Metal-free emitters, Benzothiophene, Multi-resonance TADF, Triplet excitons",

author = "Durai Karthik and Gupta, \{Abhishek Kumar\} and Eli Zysman-Colman",

note = "Funding: The authors thank Samsung Display Co., Ltd., the Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2022-032), and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for support (EP/R035164/1, EP/W007517/1, EP/Z535291/1).",

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doi = "10.1039/D5QM00893J",

language = "English",

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journal = "Materials Chemistry Frontiers",

issn = "2052-1537",

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T1 - Room temperature phosphorescence from a benzothiophene-based N–B–N multi-resonance core

AU - Karthik, Durai

AU - Gupta, Abhishek Kumar

AU - Zysman-Colman, Eli

N1 - Funding: The authors thank Samsung Display Co., Ltd., the Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2022-032), and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council for support (EP/R035164/1, EP/W007517/1, EP/Z535291/1).

PY - 2026/1/27

Y1 - 2026/1/27

N2 - We report a design strategy that enables room temperature phosphorescence from an N–B–N type heterocycle, reminiscent of a multi-resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR-TADF) compound, by disturbing the alternating frontier molecular orbital distribution pattern through five-membered ring fusion with the boron atom. The 2 wt% doped film in mCP host showed a long phosphorescence lifetime of 51.5 ms at 571 nm at room temperature, with an afterglow visible for up to 1 s.

AB - We report a design strategy that enables room temperature phosphorescence from an N–B–N type heterocycle, reminiscent of a multi-resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR-TADF) compound, by disturbing the alternating frontier molecular orbital distribution pattern through five-membered ring fusion with the boron atom. The 2 wt% doped film in mCP host showed a long phosphorescence lifetime of 51.5 ms at 571 nm at room temperature, with an afterglow visible for up to 1 s.

KW - Room temperature phosphorescence

KW - Metal-free emitters

KW - Benzothiophene

KW - Multi-resonance TADF

KW - Triplet excitons

U2 - 10.1039/D5QM00893J

DO - 10.1039/D5QM00893J

M3 - Article

SN - 2052-1537

VL - Advance Article

JO - Materials Chemistry Frontiers

JF - Materials Chemistry Frontiers

ER -

Room temperature phosphorescence from a benzothiophene-based N–B–N multi-resonance core

Abstract

Keywords

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Projects

Allan Watson Programme Grant: Boron: Beyond the Reagent

Going Deeper with Boron: Near-infrared emitting TADF materials based on very strong organoboron acceptors

Chemistry EPSRC-JSPS: EPSRC-JSPS Core-to-Core Grant Application

Datasets

Room Temperature Phosphorescence from a Benzothiophenebased N-B-N Multi-Resonance Core (dataset)

Cite this