Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 8, 2025

From Molecules to Materials: Engineering New Ionic Liquid Crystals Through Halogen Bonding
Published on: March 24, 2018
Structural and Photophysical Differences in Crystalline Trigonal Planar Copper Iodide Complexes with
Yongjin Zhao1,2, Toyotaka Nakae1, Kaito Segawa3
1Department of Chemistry, School of Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
Abstract:
We synthesized trigonal planar Cu(I) iodide complexes with 1,2-bis(methylpyridin-2-yl)disilane ligands L1-L4 and investigated how the substitution position of the methyl group on the pyridine ring in σ-π conjugation affects their structure and physical properties. The structures were characterized by NMR, elemental analysis, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. In the crystalline state, the methylpyridyl groups of CuIL1-CuIL3 were coordinated with Cu(I) in an anticlinal conformation relative to the Si-Si σ bond, whereas those of CuIL4 were coordinated with Cu(I) in a synperiplanar conformation relative to the Si-Si σ bond. The conformational difference in the crystalline state was influenced by the N-Cu-N bite angle and the emission wavelength. CuIL1-CuIL3 exhibited blue-green emission (λem: 476-494 nm), and CuIL4 exhibited green-yellow emission (λem: 512 nm) with high emission quantum yields (Φ: 0.59-0.86) in the crystalline state at 293 K. These Cu(I) complexes exhibited thermally activated delayed fluorescence from the S1 state at 293 K and phosphorescence from the T1 state at 77 K in the crystalline state. The optical properties in the crystalline state were discussed by DFT and TD-DFT calculations. These complexes also displayed aggregation-induced emission in THF-water solution (fw > 80%), although they did not show emission in dehydrated THF.
Related Concept Videos
Crystal Field Theory - Tetrahedral and Square Planar Complexes
Crystal field theory (CFT) is applicable to molecules in geometries other than octahedral. In octahedral complexes, the lobes of the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals point directly at the ligands. For tetrahedral complexes, the d orbitals remain in place, but with only four ligands located between the axes. None of the orbitals points directly at the tetrahedral ligands. However, the dx2−y2 and dz2 orbitals (along the Cartesian axes) overlap with the ligands less than the dxy,...
Stereoisomerism
Isomers are different chemical species that have the same chemical formula.
Transition metal complexes often exist as geometric isomers, in which the same atoms are connected through the same types of bonds but with differences in their orientation in space. Coordination complexes with two different ligands in the cis and trans positions from a ligand of interest form isomers. For example, the octahedral [Co(NH3)4Cl2]+ ion has two isomers (Figure 1) In the cis...
Crystal Field Theory - Octahedral Complexes
To explain the observed behavior of transition metal complexes (such as colors), a model involving electrostatic interactions between the electrons from the ligands and the electrons in the unhybridized d orbitals of the central metal atom has been developed. This electrostatic model is crystal field theory (CFT). It helps to understand, interpret, and predict the colors, magnetic behavior, and some structures of coordination compounds of transition metals.
CFT focuses on...
Structural Isomerism
Isomers are different chemical species that have the same chemical formula. Structural isomerism of coordination compounds can be divided into two subcategories, the linkage isomers and coordination-sphere isomers.
Linkage isomers occur when the coordination compound contains a ligand that can bind to the transition metal center through two different atoms. For example, the CN− ligand can bind through the carbon atom or through the nitrogen atom. Similarly, SCN− can...
Disubstituted Cyclohexanes: cis-trans Isomerism
In cyclohexane, the substituents can occupy different positions generating distinct isomers....
Coordination Number and Geometry

