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A series of twelve two-coordinate coinage metal, Cu, Ag and Au, complexes with carbene-metal-amide structures were prepared. The complexes all display thermal assisted delayed fluorescence (TADF) emission at room temperature from interligand charge transfer (ICT) excited state with short lifetimes (less than 2 μs) and photoluminescent quantum yields that reach near unity. Owing to the involvement of the substituents in the emissive transitions and different metal ion volume, the natural transition orbital (NTO) overlap of the emissive state can be adjusted in a wide range from 0.21 to 0.41. Investigations on the relationship between the NTO overlap of the emissive state and key TADF photophysical properties demonstrated that both singlet–triplet energy gap and radiative decay rate of S 1 state increase along with the NTO overlap exponentially. Consequently, the overall TADF radiative decay rate leads to a maximum when plotted against the NTO overlap, giving the ideal zone from 0.25 to 0.30 for high TADF radiative decay rate in this class of two-coordinate coinage metal complex luminophores.

Bromination of the luminescent borane, anti -B 18 H 22 , via electrophilic substitution using AlCl 3 and Br 2 , yields the monosubstituted derivative 4-Br- anti -B 18 H 21 as an air-stable crystalline solid. In contrast to the unsubstituted parent compound, 4-Br- anti -B 18 H 21 possesses dual emission upon excitation with UV light and exhibits fluorescence at 410 nm and phosphorescence at 503 nm, with Φ total = 0.07 in oxygen-free cyclohexane. Increased oxygen content in cyclohexane solution quenches the phosphorescence signal. The fluorescent signal intensity remains unaffected by oxygen, suggesting that this molecule could be used as a ratiometric oxygen probe.

Luminescent complexes of heavy metals such as iridium, platinum, and ruthenium play an important role in photocatalysis and energy conversion applications as well as organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Achieving comparable performance from more–earth-abundant copper requires overcoming the weak spin-orbit coupling of the light metal as well as limiting the high reorganization energies typical in copper(I) [Cu(I)] complexes. Here we report that two-coordinate Cu(I) complexes with redox active ligands in coplanar conformation manifest suppressed nonradiative decay, reduced structural reorganization, and sufficient orbital overlap for efficient charge transfer. We achieve photoluminescence efficiencies >99% and microsecond lifetimes, which lead to an efficient blue-emitting OLED. Photophysical analysis and simulations reveal a temperature-dependent interplay between emissive singlet and triplet charge-transfer states and amide-localized triplet states.

The photophysical properties of several Cu( i ) complexes coordinated with cyclic (alkyl)(amino)carbene (CAAC) ligands were examined. All the compounds were found to be phosphorescent, regardless of whether they are 2-, 3- or 4-coordinated. Aggregate and excimer emission were observed from 2-coordinate CAAC–CuCl derivatives in methylcyclohexane solution. Emission from the complex 4-coordinated with a trispyrazolylborate ligand is red-shifted with respect to both the chloro-derivative and an analogous complex with an NHC ligand.