Selective Encapsulation and Enhancement of the Emission Properties of a Luminescent Cu(I) Complex in Mesoporous Silica

Selective encapsulation and enhancement of the emission properties of a luminescent Cu(I) complex in mesoporous silica

We describe a synthetic approach to prepare new luminescent silica‐based materials through the encapsulation of a neutral copper(I) complex inside the pores of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN). The copper(I) complex is present, in the solid state, as two polymorphs, blue and yellow emissive, and in solution it shows a pale yellow color that is also mirrored by an emission in the yellow‐orange region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The X‐ray structures of single crystals have been obtained for both polymorphs. The complex encapsulation in MSN is achieved by its entrapment inside micelles followed by condensation of the silica source. Interestingly, the entrapment leads to the isolation…