Highly efficient sensitized red emission from europium (III) in Ir-Eu bimetallic complexes by 3MLCT energy transfer

Two novel iridium-europium bimetallic complexes, {[(dfppy)2Ir(mu-phen5f)]3EuCl}Cl2 and (dfppy)2Ir(mu-phen5f)Eu(TFAcA)3 [dfppy represents 2-(4',6'-difluorophenyl)-pyridinato-N,C(2'), phen5f stands for 4,4,5,5,5-pentafluoro-1-(1',10'-phenanthrolin-2'-yl)-pentane-1,3-dionate and TFAcA represents trifluoroacetylacetonate], were successfully synthesized. The novel ligand Hphen5f with four coordination sites was designed as a bridge to link the Ir (III) center and the Eu (III) center. The X-ray diffraction data shows that the nonbonding distances for Eu...Ir are 6.028, 5.907, and 6.100 A in the bimetallic complex {[(dfppy)2Ir(mu-phen5f)]3EuCl}Cl2. Photophysical studies implied that the high efficient red luminescence from the Eu (III) ion was sensitized by the (3)MLCT (metal-to-ligand charge transfer) energy based on an Ir (III) complex-ligand in a d-f bimetallic assembly. The excitation window for the new bimetallic complex {[(dfppy)2Ir(mu-phen5f)]3EuCl}Cl2 extends up to 530 nm (1 x 10(-3) M in EtOH), indicating that this bimetallic complex can emit red light under the irradiation of sunlight.