Syntheses, structural studies and spectroscopic characterisation of pyridyl–phthalimide complexes of fac-(CO)3ReI-diimines

The mono-dentate ligands, 3-aminomethyl-N-phthalimido-pyridine (L1) and 3-amino-N-phthalimido-pyridine (L2), were synthesised using a solvent-free melt method. These ligands were then used to access three pairs of functionalised luminescent ReI complexes of the generic type fac-{Re(CO)3(diimine)(Ln)}(BF4) [where diimine = 4,4′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridine (dmb); 2,2′-bipyridine (bpy); 1,10-phenanthroline (phen)]. X-ray crystallography has been used to structurally characterise five of the complexes showing that in the cases of the L1 species the phthalimide unit is adjacent to and co-planar with the coordinated diimine ligand. Solution state UV–Vis absorption, electrochemistry and IR studies confirm that the proposed formulations and coordination modes exist in solution. The photophysical studies show that the visible emission from each of the six complexes is 3MLCT at room temperature. Within each pair of complexes the precise energy of the emission was subtly dependent upon the axial ligand, Ln with luminescence lifetimes in the range 121–288 ns.