Tunable Multicolor Phosphorescence of Crystalline Polymeric Complex Salts with Metallophilic Backbones

Qi Liu; Mo Xie; Xiaoyong Chang; Shuang Cao; Chao Zou; Wen-Fu Fu; Chi-Ming Che; Yong Chen; Wei Lu

doi:10.1002/anie.201803965

Tunable Multicolor Phosphorescence of Crystalline Polymeric Complex Salts with Metallophilic Backbones

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2018 May 22;57(21):6279-6283. doi: 10.1002/anie.201803965. Epub 2018 Apr 25.

Authors

Qi Liu^{1

2}, Mo Xie², Xiaoyong Chang², Shuang Cao¹, Chao Zou², Wen-Fu Fu¹, Chi-Ming Che³, Yong Chen¹, Wei Lu²

Affiliations

¹ Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry & University of, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China.
² Department of Chemistry, South University of Science and Technology of China, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518055, P. R. China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Synthetic Chemistry and Department of Chemistry, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China.

PMID: 29655269
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201803965

Abstract

A total of 35 [Au(NHC)₂ ][MX₂ ] (NHC=N-heterocyclic carbene; M=Au or Cu; X=halide, cyanide or arylacetylide) complex salts were synthesized by co-precipitation of [Au(NHC)₂ ]⁺ cations and [MX₂ ]^- anions. These salts contain crystallographically determined polymeric Au⋅⋅⋅Au or Au⋅⋅⋅Cu interactions and are highly phosphorescent with quantum yields up to unity and emission color tunable in the entire visible regions. The nature of the emissive excited states is generally assigned to ligand (anion)-to-ligand (cation) charge-transfer transitions assisted by d¹⁰ ⋅⋅⋅d¹⁰ metallophilicity. The emission properties can be further tuned by controlled triple-component co-crystallization or by epitaxial growth. Correct recipes for white light-emitting phosphors with quantum yields higher than 70 % have been achieved by screening the combinatorial pool.

Keywords: N-heterocyclic carbenes; gold; metallophilicity; phosphorescence; white-light emitting.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't