Enhancing Intersystem Crossing to Achieve Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence in a Water-Soluble Fluorescein Derivative with a Flexible Propenyl Group

It is a challenge to rationally design an organic molecule with thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) due to the intrinsically spin-forbidden transition. Meanwhile, those reported TADF organic molecules have difficulty to be directly applied in the field of biological and medical imaging because they usually have no water solubility. Here, a water-soluble TADF organic molecule DCF-BXJ was developed by introducing a flexible propenyl group into the commercial traditional fluorophore DCF (2,7-dichlorofluorescein). The flexible group provides nonradiative rotational motion, which causes an efficient energy level cross between the S₁ state and the T₂ state of DCF-BXJ. Results of transient absorption spectra and theoretical calculations supported that nonradiative rotational motion of the flexible group can enhance intersystem crossing (ISC) and bring out TADF. This work provides a new mechanism explanation for TADF existing in organic molecules.