Studies of the 5‘-Substituted Phenylisoquinoline-Based Iridium Complexes Using Density Functional Theory

• DOI: 10.1021/om060323p
• Publication Date: 2006-08-08T10:01:15Z
• Authors: Cheng-Hsien Yang; Wei-Lin Su; Kai-Hung Fang; Shao-Pin Wang; I-Wen Sun
• Keywords: 01 natural sciences; 0104 chemical sciences

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,C2‘]iridium(III) (acetylacetonate) (6a1), bis[1-(5‘-trifluoromethyl)phenylisoquinolinato-N,C2‘]iridium(III) (acetylacetonate) (6a2), bis[1-(5‘-methoxy)phenylisoquinolinato-N,C2‘]iridium(III) (acetylacetonate) (6a3), and bis[1-(5‘-fluoro)phenylisoquinolinato-N,C2‘]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 effec...