Leaping across the visible range: near-infrared-to-violet photon upconversion employing a silyl-substituted anthracene

Upconverting near-infrared (NIR) light ( λ > 700 nm) to violet light ( λ < 450 nm) based on triplet-triplet annihilation (TTA) is achieved for the first time by developing a silyl-substituted anthracene violet emitter and its sensitization by an osmium complex showing a singlet-to-triplet (S-T) absorption in the NIR range. The first example of near-infrared (NIR, λ > 700 nm)-to-violet ( λ < 450 nm) photon upconversion based on triplet-triplet annihilation is achieved by developing a silyl-substituted anthracene violet emitter with a low triplet energy level.