In this work, we introduce a spiro-fluorene unit into a phenylpyridine (CN)-type ligand as a simple way to deplanarize the structure and increase the solubility of the final platinum(II)···complex. Using a spiro-fluorene unit, orthogonal to the main coordination plane of the complex, reduces intermolecular interactions, leading to increased solubility but without significantly affecting the ability of the complex to form Pt···Pt dimers and excimers. This approach is highly important in the design of platinum(II) complexes, which often suffer from low solubility due to their mainly planar structure, and offers an alternative to the use of bulky alkyl groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlkylation of one of the phenolic hydroxyl groups in a salen-type tetradentate ligand changes the coordination mode from O^N^N^O to the cyclometallating C^N^N^O type. The ligand was used to synthesize a new cyclometalated luminescent Pt(II) complex . While in solution the complex is poorly luminescent, in the solid state the emission is reinstated, which allowed one to evaluate complex as a phosphorescent emitter in organic light-emitting diodes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present a detailed and comprehensive picture of the photophysics of thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF). The approach relies on a few-state model, parametrized on a prototypical TADF dye, that explicitly accounts for the nonadiabatic coupling between electrons and vibrational and conformational motion, crucial to properly address (reverse) intersystem crossing rates. The Onsager model is exploited to account for the medium polarity and polarizability, with careful consideration of the different time scales of relevant degrees of freedom.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCommonly, thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters present a twisted donor-acceptor structure. Here, electronic communication is mediated through-bond via π-conjugation between donor and acceptor groups. A second class of TADF emitters are those where electronic communication between donor and acceptor moieties is mediated through-space.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe molecular photophysics and thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) in spiro compounds are distinct because of the rigid orthogonal C-C bridging bond between donor and acceptor. The photophysics is found to be highly complex, with unprecedented multiple anti-Kasha emissions from three different singlet states, two of which are one-photon forbidden. The TADF mechanism is critically controlled by local acceptor nπ* states; the singlet nπ* state undergoes rapid intersystem crossing populating an energetically close acceptor ππ* triplet state.
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