摘要:
To examine the effects of coordination sites and the nature of ligands reported for color-tuning of a few cyclometalated Ir(III) complexes, a series of 3'-substituted (F, CH3, OCH3, and CF3) phenylisoquinoline (piq) ligands were synthesized and successfully used to prepare iridium complexes, including bis[1-(5'-methyl) phenylisoquinolinato-N,C-2'] iridium(III) (acetylacetonate) (6a1), bis[1-(5'-trifluoromethyl) phenylisoquinolinato-N, C-2'] iridium(III) (acetylacetonate) (6a2), bis[1-(5'-methoxy) phenylisoquinolinato-N, C-2']iridium( III) (acetylacetonate) (6a3), and bis[1-(5'-fluoro) phenylisoquinolinato-N, C-2'] iridium(III) (acetylacetonate) (6a4). Density functional theory results indicate that two conflicting effects, electronic and steric, can be applied to account for the substitution-sensitive coordination sites of piq: the methoxyl- or fluoro-substituted ligand generates both 2'-coordinated and 6'-coordinated isomers. Coordination of methoxy substitution prefers 6'-coordination of piq dominated by steric effects, while coordination of fluoro substitution prefers 2'-coordination, arising from better back-donation of the iridium center. Correlations of HOMO-LUMO gaps with electroluminescence (EL) data are discussed. More importantly, the EL data are well predicted by time-dependent density functional theory calculations.