Controlling the Emission of Blue-Emitting Complexes by Encapsulation within Zeolite Cavities

Blue light-emitting boron 8-hydroxyquinolinate and 8-hydroxyquinaldinate complexes have been formed inside boron zeolites Beta, MCM-22, and ferrierite, and on layered ITQ-2 and ITQ-6 zeolites starting from the corresponding ligands and boron dislodged from framework positions. The luminescence properties, i.e., emission intensity, maximum wavelength, and lifetime of the ship-in-a-bottle quinolinate complexes are strongly modulated by the zeolite host. Besides the species responsible for the photoluminescence, other longer-lived transient species, presumably related to electron transport, are also photochemically generated and have been detected by laser flash photolysis.