The possibility of using less expensive and nontoxic metals, such as copper, as substitutes for more expensive heavy metals in the synthesis of new transition-metal complexes to be used as sensitizers in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) has stimulated research in this field. The novel photoluminescent copper(I) complex bis(triphenylphosphane-κP)[trans-(±)-2,4,5-tris(pyridin-2-yl)-2-imidazoline-κ2N2,N3]copper(I) hexafluorophosphate, [CuI(C18H15N5)(C18H15P)2]PF6, has been successfully synthesized and characterized by IR and 1H NMR spectroscopy, as well as by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis. The complex showed interesting photophysical properties, which were studied experimentally in solution and in the solid state by UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations with dichloromethane as solvent reproduced reasonably well the HOMO and LUMO orbitals of the title compound.
Keywords: crystal structure; density functional theory; imidazoline ligand; mononuclear copper(I) complex; phosphane ligand; photophysical properties.