Can natural products be a basis for green lighting technology? 8-Hydroxyquinoline is a natural product found in the fungus Cortinarius subtortus and the plant Allium stipitatum (aka the Persian shallot). 8-Hydroxyquinoline and its derivatives can act as antiseptics and disinfectants, have anti-inflammatory properties, and are heavily researched as antineurodegeneratives, antidiabetics, and anticancer agents in medicine. Its structure renders 8-hydroxyquinoline a good emitter material from the natural pool for light emission. Unfortunately, rapid proton transfer quenches the emission. This can be overcome by complexation with metal ion, such as in tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato) aluminium, which is a compound widely used in OLEDs. However, metal ions such as aluminium are suspected to cause diseases like Alzheimer’s. Thus, metal-free alternatives are more desirable. In a collaboration of chemists, physicists, and chemical engineers we now have developed 8-hydroxyquinoline into a metal-free, natural product platform molecule for true green lighting.
Read the full article here: The 8-Hydroxyquinolinium Cation as a Lead Structure for Efficient Color-Tunable Ionic Small Molecule Emitting Materials