Photophysical Properties of Highly Efficient Blue-Green Emitting Cationic Iridium (III) Complexes Containing Two 2-Phenylbenzothiazole Ligands and One Diphosphine Ligand

Two novel phosphorescent heteroleptic cationic Ir(III) complexes, Ir(bt)2(dmpe) (Ir1) and Ir (bt)2(dppe) (Ir2), where bt is 2-phenylbenzothiazole, dmpe is 1,2-bis(dimethylphosphino)ethane, and dppe is 1,2-bis(diphenyl-phosphino) ethane, were designed and synthesized. Their photophysical and electrochemical properties and the X-ray structure of the Ir1 complex were investigated. The prepared Ir(III) complexes exhibited blue-green emissions at 503-538 nm with vibronic fine structures in dichloromethane solution and PMMA film, implying that the lowest excited states are dominated by ligand-based $^3{\pi}-{\pi}^*$ transitions. The ${\pi}$-acceptor ability of the diphosphine ancillary ligand leads to blue-shift emission. The room temperature photoluminescent quantum yields (PLQYs) of Ir1 and Ir2 were 52% and 45%, respectively, in dichloromethane solution. These high PLQYs resulted from steric hindrances by the bulky cationic iridium complexes. The crystal structure of Ir1 was determined by X-ray crystallography, which revealed that central iridium adopted a distorted octahedral structure coordinated with two bt ligands (N^C) and one dmpe ligand (P^P) showing cis C-C and trans N-N dispositions. The bent nature of the dmpe ligand resulted in a relatively wide bite angle of $83.83^{\circ}$ of P-Ir-P.