ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 25 -- United States Patent no. 12,342,716, issued on June 24, was assigned to University of Southern California.

"Tandem-carbene phosphors" was invented by Tian-Yi Li (Los Angeles), Peter I. Djurovich (Long Beach, Calif.) and Mark E. Thompson (Anaheim, Calif.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Compounds comprising a first ligand a second ligand; wherein the first ligand coordinates to a first metal through a first metal-carbene bond; the second ligand coordinates to a second metal through a second metal-carbene bond; the second ligand also coordinates to the first metal; the first ligand can link to the second ligand to form a multidentate ligand; and the first metal and the...