Solid-emissive rhodamine: hydrogen bonding-assisted efficient intermolecular fluorescence resonance energy transfer in the solid state

Solid-emissive rhodamine complexes are obtained by mixing commercial rhodamine B (RhB) with the recently developed solid-emissive boron 2-(2′-pyridyl)imidazole (BOPIM) derivatives. The formation of intermolecular hydrogen bonds between RhB and BOPIM dyes plays a key role in the emission of RhB in the solid state. The disappearance of emissions from BOPIM dyes indicates the occurrence of efficient intermolecular fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). The hydrogen bond also helps prevent the intermolecular interaction between the carboxyl moieties on RhB to alleviate concentration-induced fluorescence quenching because the emission of the complexes can be directly lightened by excitation at the RhB absorption (510 nm). Our results indicate that intermolecular FRET assisted by non-covalent interactions can be an efficient tool for constructing red or near-infrared solid emitters.