A Permanent Porous Hydrogen-Bonded Framework with Room-Temperature Phosphorescence

Hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) based on metal-free organic materials with permanent porosity and phosphorescence are rarely reported. Herein, we report a pure organic phosphor of 1,3,5-tris((4-(9H-carbazol-9-yl)phenyl)methanone-1-yl)benzene (BPMCz) as a suitable building block to construct robust HOF materials. Apart from a good thermal stability, BPMCz-P1 exhibited a comparatively high CO2 adsorption and room-temperature phosphorescence with a lifetime of 1.8 ms under ambient conditions. The experimental and theoretical data clearly indicate that aromatic carbonyl groups not only play a critical role in forming intermolecular hydrogen bonds to construct HOFs but also facilitate π-πinteractions to enable long-lived phosphorescence. The introduction of carbonyl groups in BPMCz-P1 successfully construct a metal-free porous framework with phosphorescence emission. This study will not only provide valuable guidelines for the construction of new HOFs with luminescent properties but also expand the scope of organic room-temperature phosphorescent materials and their applications.