Iodide-Centered Cuprous Octatomic Ring: A Luminescent Molecular Thermometer Exhibiting Dual-Emission Character

Luminescent molecular thermometers have attracted great attention due to their potential application for temperature detection in special environments. By a very simple one-step method, we have synthesized one novel cuprous compound, [I@Cu8(HMTZ)(MTZ)7]·MeCN·2H2O (I@Cu8), which consists of an infrequent octatomic [I@Cu8S8] ring. Importantly, compound I@Cu8 features dual-emitting behavior and shows successive visual luminescent emissions varying from green, to yellow, to orange, and then to red in the temperature range of 80–300 K, suggesting potential application for a luminescent molecular thermometer.