Recent advances in room temperature phosphorescence of crystalline boron containing organic compounds

In organic compounds, room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) is a rare, yet highly desirable, property that is important for a wide variety of applications, including tissue imaging, anticounterfeiting technologies, photodynamic therapy, and organic light-emitting devices. While most organic RTP molecules rely on heavy atoms or carbonyl functional groups to accelerate singlet-to-triplet intersystem crossing, in the past few years there have been several reports of RTP induced by boron-containing functional groups. This minireview covers the recent literature on RTP of crystalline boroorganic compounds and analyzes the connections between molecular structure, intermolecular interactions, and the resulting phosphorescence.