Thermally resistive phosphorescent molecular assembly in the channels of mesoporous silica nanocomposites

Here we report that immobilization of columnar assembled trinuclear gold(I) pyrazolate complex [Au₃Pz₃], formed via a Au¹-Au¹ metallophilic interaction, in the channels of mesoporous silica with a hexagonal geometry [Au₃Pz₃]/silica_hex can provide thermally resistive phosphorescent nanocomposites. We have recently found that when the spin-coated film was allowed to stand at 20 °C for 5 h after stepwise heating to 140 °C, the columnar assemblies in the silicate nanochannels with an interpore distance of 4.1 nm can perfectly self-repair from heat-induced structural damage due to a nanoscopic template effect. Quite recently, we have reported that self-repairing capability of [Au₃Pz₃]/silica_hex was dependent on the way of heating, where the autonomous recovery was perfectly achieved when the nanocomposites were heated stepwise from 20 to 140 °C in 45 min or directly to 160 °C in 11 min. These results prompted us to investigate the light-emitting capability of [Au₃Pz₃] in the silicate nanochannels over a very wide temperature range (-200 °C) before natural cooling to 20 °C.