The research team led by Professor He Gang of XJTU Frontier Institute of Science and Technology successfully prepared a series of novel bismuth-bridged viologen analogues -“bismoviologens”- synthesized through a combination of a bismuth atom and viologen skeleton. Bismolviologens has been applied in electrophosphorochromism and visible light-induced cross-dehydrogenative coupling. This research expanded the viologen derivants' scope and laid a solid foundation for their application in electrophosphorescence devices and visible light catalysis.

The research results were published in a leading international journal of chemistry, Journal of the American Chemical Society, on the supplementary cover. Ma Wenqiang, a doctorate candidate of the XJTU Frontier Institute of Science and Technology, is the first author. Professor Ma Tianyu of the Frontier Institute of Science and Technology, Zhang Mingming of the School of Materials Science and Engineering, researcher Rao Bin of the School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, as well as Xu Letian, Zhang Sikun, and Li Guoping of Professor He Gang's research team also participated in the work. XJTU is the authors' only institutional affiliation.