Propeller-like structure-stabilized phosphole and its aromaticity-promoted electrochemiluminescence

Trivalent organophosphorus luminophores attract considerable interest in life analysis due to their rich reactivity and wonderful life compatibility, but instability and aggregation-caused emissive quenching (ACQ) still hamper their practical applications. Herein, we report an air-stable trivalent phosphorus-embedded 1,2,3,4,5-pentaphenylphosphole (PPP) stabilized by a propeller-like noncoplanar chemical structure. Benefiting from its inherent strong aromaticity as well as the restriction of the intramolecular motions, PPP exhibits excellently aggregation-induced photoluminescence (PL) and electrochemiluminescence (ECL). Importantly, this work represents the first example of the organophosphorus ECL system that can highly detect the reactive oxygen species hypochlorous acid with a relatively lower detection limit as 8.5 nM, and highlights the promotion of aromaticity on ECL as well.