Spectroscopy and photoredox properties of soluble platinum(II) alkynyl complexes

摘要

Six complexes of platinum(II) with a terdentate pi-acceptor ligand, 2,6-(N-(n-hexyl)benzimidazol-2'-yl)pyridine), and different ethynylbenzene ligands were synthesized and investigated by means of optical absorption, luminescence, and time-resolved emission spectroscopy. These complexes display similar photophysical and electrochemical properties as previously investigated analogs with the 2,2':6',2 ''-terpyridine ligand. The energy of the luminescence band maximum is a function of the nature of the chemical substituents attached to the ethynylbenzene ligand, luminescence intensities and lifetimes correlate with the luminescence wavelength according to the energy-gap law. The emissive excited states of some of these complexes are quenched reductively with efficiencies near the diffusion-controlled limit, even for moderate electron donors such as phenothiazine or triphenylamine. A complex with a dimethylamine substituent attached to the ethynylbenzene ligand exhibits photophysical properties that are strongly dependent on the protonation state of the amine. A dimer complex with a diethynyl-substituted xanthene bridging ligand displays absorption and emission behavior that is essentially identical to that of some of the monomeric platinum complexes investigated in this work. Short Pt(II)-Pt(II) contacts are only observed in the crystal structure of a precursor complex. A key feature of the new complexes is their good solubility in common organic solvents, thanks to the presence of two hexyl chains that are attached to the terdentate ligands.