Heteroleptic Copper(I) Complexes Prepared from Phenanthroline and Bis-Phosphine Ligands: Rationalization of the Photophysical and Electrochemical Properties
Résumé
The electronic and structural properties of ten heteroleptic [Cu(NN)(PP)]+ complexes have been investigated. NN indicates 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) or 4,7- diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (Bphen); each of these ligands is combined with five PP bis-phosphine chelators, i.e., bis(diphenylphosphino)methane (dppm), 1,2-bis- (diphenylphosphino) ethane (dppe), 1,3 bis - (diphenylphosphino)propane (dppp), 1, 2 - bis - (diphenylphosphino)benzene (dppb), and bis[(2- diphenylphosphino)phenyl] ether (POP). All complexes are mononuclear, apart from those based on dppm, which are dinuclear. Experimental data - also taken from the literature and including electrochemical properties, X-ray crystal structures, UV−vis absorption spectra in CH2Cl2, luminescence spectra and lifetimes in solution, in PMMA, and as powders - have been rationalized with the support of density functional theory calculations. Temperature dependent studies (78−358 K) have been performed for selected complexes to assess thermally activated delayed fluorescence. The main findings are (i) dependence of the ground-state geometry on the crystallization conditions, with the same complex often yielding different crystal structures; (ii) simple model compounds with imposed C2v symmetry ([Cu(phen)(PX3)2]+; X = H or CH3) are capable of modeling structural parameters as a function of the P−Cu−P bite angle, which plays a key role in dictating the overall structure of [Cu(NN)(PP)]+ complexes; (iii) as the P−Cu−P angle increases, the energy of the metal-to-ligand charge transfer absorption bands linearly increases; (iv) the former correlation does not hold for emission spectra, which are red-shifted for the weaker luminophores; (v) the larger the number of intramolecular π-interactions within the complex in the ground state, the higher the luminescence quantum yield, underpinning a geometry locking effect that limits the structural flattening of the excited state. This work provides a general framework to rationalize the structure−property relationships of [Cu(NN)(PP)]+, a class of compounds of increasing relevance for electroluminescent devices, photoredox catalysis, and solar-to-fuels conversion, which so far have been investigated in an unsystematic fashion, eluding a comprehensive understanding.