Long-lived room temperature phosphorescence of a naphthalene—β-cyclodextrin—adamantane complex in the presence of oxygen

Naphthalene-d8—β-cyclodextrin—adamantane triple complexes were prepared in an aqueous solution at room temperature. Irradiation (λ = 285 nm) of the solution in the presence of molecular oxygen results in the long-lived (τ = 10.3 s) room temperature phosphorescence (RTP). The removal of oxygen from the solution increases the RTP intensity and phosphorescence lifetime by 1.5 times. The RTP spectrum contains a well-resolved vibrational structure, whose bands are assigned to full symmetric vibrations of naphthalene, their overtones, and the combination tones of full symmetric vibrations. The quantum-chemical calculation of the triple complex structure confirms that both naphthalene and adamantane can simultaneously be included into the β-cyclodextrin cavity and suggests that the role of the latter as the third component is the more efficient shielding of naphthalene from the oxygen effect due to both the formation of three-component complexes and their aggregation to form submicronic particles.