Photophysical properties of three coordinated copper(i) complexes bearing 1,10-phenanthroline and a monodentate phosphine ligandElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Crystallographic data for X-ray structural analysis, NMR spectra, photophysical properties, cyclic voltammogram and details of the DFT calculations. CCDC 1563540-1563544. For ESI and crystallographic data in CIF or other electronic format see DOI: 10.1039/c7dt02938a

• Main Authors: Kakizoe, Daichi, Nishikawa, Michihiro, Fujii, Yasuo, Tsubomura, Taro
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1477-9226; 1477-9234
• DOI: 10.1039/c7dt02938a

We report the synthesis and photophysical properties of Cu( i ) complexes with 1,10-phenanthroline (phen) and monodentate phosphine ligands. Single crystal X-ray structural analysis revealed that these have three-coordinated trigonal planar geometries. We also found that one of them, [Cu(phen)(Johnphos)]BF 4 (Johnphos = 2-(di- tert -butylphosphino)biphenyl), is considerably emissive both in solution and solid states. The emission maximum wavelength of the emission of the complex is 580 nm, and the lifetime of the emission is 2 μs in solution. Moreover, we have systematically investigated the photophysical and redox properties of four-coordinate complexes [Cu(NN)(P) 2 ] + in addition to three-coordinate complexes [Cu(NN)(P)] + . Charge transfer transitions play a key role in the photophysics of these complexes. Three-coordinated emissive copper( i ) complexes bearing 1,10-phenanthroline and monodentate phosphine ligands were synthesized. Copper( i ) complexes bearing a crowded phosphine ligand show relatively strong luminescence even in solution.