A Low-Temperature-Resistant Flexible Organic Crystal with Circularly Polarized Luminescence.

Flexible organic crystals with unique mechanical properties and excellent optical properties are of paramount significance for their wide applications in various research fields such as adaptive optics and soft robotics. However, low-temperature-resistant flexible organic crystal with circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) has never been reported. Herein, chiral organic crystals with CPL activity and low-temperature flexibility (77 K) are fabricated by the solvent diffusion method from chiral Schiff base, S(R)-4-bromo-2-(((1-phenylethyl)imino)methyl)phenol (S(R)-BPEMP). The corresponding chirooptical properties for the two enantiomeric crystals were thoroughly investigated, including the measurements of circular dichroism (CD) and CPL. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on low-molecular-weight flexible organic crystals with CPL activity, and we believe that the results will give a new impetus to the research of organic crystals.