José M. Junquera-Hernández

A deep-blue emitting charged bis-cyclometallated iridium(III) complex for light-emitting electrochemical cells

We report here a new cationic bis-cyclometallated iridium(III) complex, 1, with deep-blue emission at 440 nm and its use in Light-emitting Electrochemical Cells (LECs). The design is based on the 2′,6′-difluoro-2,3′-bipyridine skeleton as the cyclometallating ligand and a bis-imidazolium carbene-type ancillary ligand. Furthermore, bulky tert-butyl substituents are used to limit the intermolecular interactions. LECs have been driven both at constant voltage (6 V) and constant current (2.5 mA cm−2). The performances are significantly improved with the latter method, resulting overall in one of the best reported greenish-blue LECs having fast response (17 s), light intensity over 100 cd m−2 and a reasonable efficiency of almost 5 cd A−1.

Efficient Green-Light-Emitting Electrochemical Cells Based on Ionic Iridium Complexes with Sulfone-Containing Cyclometalating Ligands

A new approach to obtain green-emitting iridium(III) complexes is described. The synthetic approach consists of introducing a methylsulfone electron-withdrawing substituent into a 4-phenylpyrazole cyclometalating ligand in order to stabilize the highest-occupied molecular orbital (HOMO). Six new complexes have been synthesized incorporating the conjugate base of 1-(4-(methylsulfonyl)phenyl)-1H-pyrazole as the cyclometalating ligand. The complexes show green emission and very high photoluminescence quantum yields in both diluted and concentrated films. When used as the main active component in light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs), green electroluminance is observed. High efficiencies and luminances are obtained at low driving voltages. This approach for green emitters is an alternative to the widely used fluorine-based substituents in the cyclometalating ligands and opens new design possibilities for the synthesis of green emitters for LECs.

Shine bright or live long: substituent effects in [Cu(N^N)(P^P)]+-based light-emitting electrochemical cells where N^N is a 6-substituted 2,2'-bipyridine

We report [Cu(P^P)(N^N)][PF6] complexes with P^P = bis(2-(diphenylphosphino)phenyl)ether (POP) or 4,5-bis(diphenylphosphino)-9,9-dimethylxanthene (xantphos) and N^N = 6-methyl-2,2′-bipyridine (Mebpy), 6-ethyl-2,2′-bipyridine (Etbpy), 6,6′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine (Me2bpy) or 6-phenyl-2,2′-bipyridine (Phbpy). The crystal structures of [Cu(POP)(Phbpy)][PF6]·Et2O, [Cu(POP)(Etbpy)][PF6]·Et2O, [Cu(xantphos)(Me2bpy)][PF6], [Cu(xantphos)(Mebpy)][PF6]·CH2Cl2·0.4Et2O, [Cu(xantphos)(Etbpy)][PF6]·CH2Cl2·1.5H2O and [Cu(xantphos)(Phbpy)][PF6] are described; each copper(I) centre is distorted tetrahedral. In the crystallographically determined structures, the N^N domain in [Cu(xantphos)(Phbpy)]+ and [Cu(POP)(Phbpy)]+ is rotated ∼180° with respect to its orientation in [Cu(xantphos)(Mebpy)]+, [Cu(POP)(Etbpy)]+ and [Cu(xantphos)(Etbpy)]+; in each complex containing xantphos, the xanthene ‘bowl’ retains the same conformation in the solid-state structures. The two conformers resulting from the 180° rotation of the N^N ligand were optimized at the B3LYP-D3/(6-31G**+LANL2DZ) level and are close in energy for each complex. Variable temperature NMR spectroscopy evidences the presence of two conformers of [Cu(xantphos)(Phbpy)]+ in solution which are related by inversion of the xanthene unit. The complexes exhibit MLCT absorption bands in the range 378 to 388 nm, and excitation into each MLCT band leads to yellow emissions. Photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs) increase from solution to thin-film and powder; the highest PLQYs are observed for powdered [Cu(xantphos)(Mebpy)][PF6] (34%), [Cu(xantphos)(Etbpy)][PF6] (37%) and [Cu(xantphos)(Me2bpy)][PF6] (37%) with lifetimes of 9.6–11 μs. Density functional theory calculations predict that the emitting triplet (T1) involves an electron transfer from the Cu–P^P environment to the N^N ligand and therefore shows a 3MLCT character. T1 is calculated to be ∼0.20 eV lower in energy than the first singlet excited state (S1). The [Cu(P^P)(N^N)][PF6] ionic transition-metal (iTMC) complexes were tested in light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs). Turn-on times are fast, and the LEC with [Cu(xantphos)(Me2bpy)][PF6] achieves a maximum efficacy of 3.0 cd A−1 (luminance = 145 cd m−2) with a lifetime of 1 h; on going to the [Cu(xantphos)(Mebpy)][PF6]-based LEC, the lifetime exceeds 15 h but at the expense of the efficacy (1.9 cd A−1). The lifetimes of LECs containing [Cu(xantphos)(Etbpy)][PF6] and [Cu(POP)(Etbpy)][PF6] exceed 40 and 80 h respectively.

Bright and stable light-emitting electrochemical cells based on an intramolecularly π-stacked, 2-naphthyl-substituted iridium complex

The synthesis and characterization of a new cationic bis-cyclometallated iridium(III) complex and its use in solid-state light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) are described. The complex [Ir(ppy)2(Naphbpy)][PF6], where Hppy = 2-phenylpyridine and Naphbpy = 6-(2-naphthyl)-2,2′-bipyridine, incorporates a pendant 2-naphthyl unit that π-stacks face-to-face with the adjacent ppy− ligand and acts as a peripheral bulky group. The complex presents a structureless emission centred around 595–600 nm both in solution and in thin film with relatively low photoluminescence quantum yields compared with analogous systems. Density functional theory calculations support the charge transfer character of the emitting triplet state and rationalize the low quantum yields in terms of a ligand-centred triplet localized on the 2-naphthyl unit that lies close in energy to the emitting state. LECs incorporating the [Ir(ppy)2(Naphbpy)][PF6] complex as the electroluminescent material are driven using a pulsed current operation mode and show high luminance, exceeding 300 cd m−2, and exceptional stabilities.

Role of the Bridge in Photoinduced Electron Transfer in Porphyrin–Fullerene Dyads

The role of π-conjugated molecular bridges in through-space and through-bond electron transfer is studied by comparing two porphyrin-fullerene donor-acceptor (D-A) dyads. One dyad, ZnP-Ph-C60 (ZnP = zinc porphyrin), incorporates a phenyl bridge between D and A and behaves very similarly to analogous dyads studied previously. The second dyad, ZnP-EDOTV-C60, introduces an additional 3,4-ethylenedioxythienylvinylene (EDOTV) unit into the conjugated bridge, which increases the distance between D and A, but, at the same time, provides increased electronic communication between them. Two essential outcomes that result from the introduction of the EDOTV unit in the bridge are as follows: 1) faster charge recombination, which indicates enhanced electronic coupling between the charge-separated and ground electronic states; and 2) the disappearance of the intramolecular exciplex, which mediates photoinduced charge separation in the ZnP-Ph-C60 dyad. The latter can be interpreted as a gradual decrease in electronic coupling between locally excited singlet states of D and A when introducing the EDOTV unit into the D-A bridge.

Colour tuning by the ring roundabout: (Ir(C^N) 2 (N^N)) + emitters with sulfonyl-substituted cyclometallating ligands†

A series of cationic bis-cyclometallated iridium(III) complexes [Ir(C^N)2(N^N)]+ is reported. Cyclometallating C^N ligands are based on 2-phenylpyridine with electron-withdrawing sulfone substituents in the phenyl ring: 2-(4-methylsulfonylphenyl)pyridine (H1) and 2-(3-methylsulfonylphenyl)pyridine (H2). 2-(1H-Pyrazol-1-yl)pyridine (pzpy) and 2-(3,5-dimethyl-1H-pyrazol-1-yl)pyridine (dmpzpy) are used as electron-rich ancillary N^N ligands. The complexes have been fully characterized and the single crystal structure of [Ir(2)2(dmpzpy)][PF6]·MeCN has been determined. Depending on the position of the methylsulfonyl group, the complexes are green or blue emitters with vibrationally structured emission maxima at 491, 523 nm for [Ir(1)2(N^N)][PF6] or 463, 493 nm for [Ir(2)2(N^N)][PF6] in MeCN solution. The marked vibrational structure and the absence of a rigidochromic shift, together with theoretical predictions based on density functional theory calculations, confirm the 3LC nature of the emitting triplet state. All four complexes have relatively high photoluminescence quantum yields in de-aerated solution (53 to 77%). On going from solution to powder samples, the emission is red-shifted and the quantum yields are considerably lower (≤11%). The complexes were tested in light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) achieving maximum luminances of 141 cd m−2 when operated at 100 A m−2 using pulsed current driving conditions.

A computational study of some electric and magnetic properties of gaseous BF3 and BCl3.

We present the results of an extended computational study of the electric and magnetic properties connected to Cotton-Mouton birefringences, on the trifluoro- and trichloroborides in the gas phase. The electric dipole polarizabilities, magnetizabilities, quadrupole moments, and higher-order hypersusceptibilities--expressed as quadratic and cubic frequency-dependent response functions--are computed within Hartree-Fock, density-functional, and coupled-cluster response theories employing singly and doubly augmented correlation-consistent basis sets and London orbitals in the magnetic property calculations. The results, which illustrate the capability of time-dependent density-functional theory for electron-rich systems, are compared with available experimental data. Revised values of both experimentally derived quadrupole moment of BF3, 2.72 +/- 0.15 a.u., and magnetizability anisotropy of BCl3, -0.45 +/- 0.09 a.u., both obtained in birefringence experiments that neglect the effects of higher-order hypersusceptibilities, are presented. In the theoretical limit the traceless quadrupole moments of BF3 and BCl3 are determined to be 3.00 +/- 0.01 and 0.71 +/- 0.01 a.u., respectively.

A water molecule in the interior of a 1H-pyrazole Cu2+ metallocage

Water has a great tendency to associate through hydrogen bonding with water molecules or other hydrogen bond donor or acceptor groups. Here the case of a water molecule encapsulated in the interior of a metallocage receptor is presented. The association of four copper(II) ions and two aza-macrocyclic receptors in which two 1H-pyrazole units are connected by cadaverine diamines leads to the inclusion of a water molecule into the cage, as proved by X-ray analysis and infrared spectroscopy. The included water molecule shows no hydrogen bonding with any component of the cage presenting only a weak hydrogen bond with an oxygen atom of a perchlorate counter-anion. The IR stretching vibrations predicted by DFT calculations agree with the experimental results.

Multistate active spaces from local CAS-SCF molecular orbitals: the photodissociation of HFCO as an example.

A recently developed algorithm to generate localized molecular orbitals (LMO) is applied to the study of excited states along a photodissociation process. The LMOs allow for the selection of a consistent complete active space (CAS) for the simultaneous description of all the electronic states involved in a multistate process on the basis of simple chemical criteria. The local nature of the orbitals is used to label them in a unique way that does not depend on the molecular geometry. The selection of the electronic configurations of interest for the set of target states on only the basis of the dominant excitations required by the simplest configuration interaction (CI) descriptions for both ground and excited states is fairly simplified. The following of the changes in the nature of the states along cuts in the set of potential energy surfaces (PES) is also simpler. The CF bond breaking and the states involved in the photodissociation of the HFCO system, together with another geometrical path along the PES of the same previous states, are studied by way of examples in this work. The local nature of the MOs warrants that this small system is representative enough to show the advantages of the procedure and that its application to larger systems (R‐FCO systems) would be straightforward.

[Cu(P^P)(N^N)][PF6] compounds with bis(phosphane) and 6-alkoxy, 6-alkylthio, 6-phenyloxy and 6-phenylthio-substituted 2,2′-bipyridine ligands for light-emitting electrochemical cells

We report a series of [Cu(P^P)(N^N)][PF6] complexes with P^P = bis(2-(diphenylphosphino)phenyl)ether (POP) or 4,5-bis(diphenylphosphino)-9,9-dimethylxanthene (xantphos) and N^N = 6-methoxy-2,2′-bipyridine (MeObpy), 6-ethoxy-2,2′-bipyridine (EtObpy), 6-phenyloxy-2,2′-bipyridine (PhObpy), 6-methylthio-2,2′-bipyridine (MeSbpy), 6-ethylthio-2,2′-bipyridine (EtSbpy) and 6-phenylthio-2,2′-bipyridine (PhSbpy). The single crystal structures of all twelve compounds have been determined and confirm chelating modes for each N^N and P^P ligand, and a distorted tetrahedral geometry for copper(I). For the xantphos-containing complexes, the asymmetrical bpy ligand is arranged with the 6-substituent lying over the xanthene ‘bowl’. The compounds have been characterized in solution by 1H, 13C and 31P NMR spectroscopies, and their photophysical and electrochemical properties are described. They are yellow emitters and solid samples show photoluminescence quantum yields in the range up to 38%, with emission lifetimes ≤10.2 μs. On going from powder to frozen Me-THF, the excited state lifetimes increase which might suggest the presence of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF). All the compounds have been tested in light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs). Bright and stable LECs are obtained with complexes containing alkoxy- or phenyloxy-substituted ligands, making this family of compounds very relevant for the future development of copper-based electroluminescent devices.