Access to long-lived room temperature phosphorescence through auration of 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole

• Published in: Dalton transactions : an international journal of inorganic chemistry Vol. 53; no. 12; pp. 5658 - 5664
• Main Authors: Posada Urrutia, Mauricio, Kaul, Nidhi, Kaper, Tobias, Hurrell, Dustin, Chiang, Linus, Wells, Jordann A. L, Orthaber, Andreas, Hammarström, Leif, Pilarski, Lukasz T, Dyrager, Christine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Royal Society of Chemistry 19.03.2024
• Subjects: Atomic energy levels; Broken symmetry; Luminescence; Optical properties; Phosphorescence; Room temperature
• ISSN: 1477-9226; 1477-9234; 1477-9234
• DOI: 10.1039/d4dt00238e

A series of 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole-Au( i )-L complexes have been synthesised, structurally characterised and investigated for their photophysical properties. These are the first organometallic Au( i ) complexes containing a C-Au bond on the highly electron-deficient benzothiadiazole unit. The complexes exhibit solution-phase phosphorescence at room temperature, assigned to the intrinsic triplet state of the benzothiadiazole unit that is efficently populated through its attachment to gold. Comparison with routinely reported Au( i ) complexes, which include intervening alkenyl linkers, suggests that previous assignments of their phosphorescence as 1 π → π*(C&z.tbd;CR) might be incomplete. Our observations affirm that, in addition to the heavy atom effect, breaking symmetry in the involved aryl motif may be of importance in controlling the luminescence properties. A series of 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole-Au( i )-L complexes have been synthesised, structurally characterised and investigated for their photophysical properties.