Photoluminescent properties of heteroleptic cyclometalated platinum(II) complexes bearing 1,3-bis(3,4-dibutoxyphenyl)propane-1,3-dionate as an ancillary ligand

A new series of heteroleptic cyclometalated platinum(II) complexes Pt-1a–f was synthesized, employing 2-arylpyridine (or 1-arylisoquinoline) (HC∧N-1) and 1,3-bis(3,4-dibutoxyphenyl)propane-1,3-dione (HO∧O-1) for cyclometalation and as ancillary ligands, respectively, and photoluminescent properties were investigated. Focusing on red-shifted phosphorescence, C∧N ligands containing π-extended aromatics and electron-rich heterocycles were examined. All obtained complexes exhibited photoluminescence at ambient temperature, and the emission maxima ranged from green (λPL=518 nm) to far red (λPL=708 nm). The large Stokes shifts of more than 100 nm and sub-microsecond or microsecond emission lifetimes revealed that these complexes are phosphorescent emissive. The quantum yield of Pt-1 ranged from 0.02 to 0.59 at ambient temperature and decreased as the emission maximum was red-shifted. In comparison with the reference platinum(II) complexes, Pt-2 bearing an aliphatic ancillary ligand, such as 2,2,6,6-tetramethylheptane-3,5-dionate (O∧O-2), the ligand O∧O-1 did not significantly affect the photoluminescence emission maxima, indicating that the energy gap between the singlet ground state and the triplet level was predominantly dependent on the C∧N ligand.