TY - JOUR
T1 - Delayed fluorescence from a zirconium(iv) photosensitizer with ligand-to-metal charge-transfer excited states
AU - Zhang, Yu
AU - Lee, Tia S.
AU - Favale, Joseph M.
AU - Leary, Dylan C.
AU - Petersen, Jeffrey L.
AU - Scholes, Gregory D.
AU - Castellano, Felix N.
AU - Milsmann, Carsten
N1 - Funding Information:
C.M., Y.Z. and D.C.L. acknowledge West Virginia University and the National Science Foundation (CHE-1752738) for financial support. This work used X-ray crystallography (CHE-1336071) and NMR (CHE-1228336) equipment funded by the National Science Foundation. The WVU High Performance Computing facilities are funded by the National Science Foundation EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Cooperative Agreement no. 1003907, the state of West Virginia (WVEPSCoR via the Higher Education Policy Commission), the WVU Research Corporation and faculty investments. The temperature-dependent static and time-resolved photoluminescence experiments performed at NC State (F.N.C. and J.M.F.) were supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, under award no. DE-SC0011979. G.D.S and T.L. acknowledge the Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences and Biosciences, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the US Department of Energy through grant no. DE-SC0015429.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
PY - 2020/4/1
Y1 - 2020/4/1
N2 - Advances in chemical control of the photophysical properties of transition-metal complexes are revolutionizing a wide range of technologies, particularly photocatalysis and light-emitting diodes, but they rely heavily on molecules containing precious metals such as ruthenium and iridium. Although the application of earth-abundant ‘early’ transition metals in photosensitizers is clearly advantageous, a detailed understanding of excited states with ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) character is paramount to account for their distinct electron configurations. Here we report an air- and moisture-stable, visible light-absorbing Zr(iv) photosensitizer, Zr(MesPDPPh)2, where [MesPDPPh]2− is the doubly deprotonated form of [2,6-bis(5-(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)-3-phenyl-1H-pyrrol-2-yl)pyridine]. This molecule has an exceptionally long-lived triplet LMCT excited state (τ = 350 μs), featuring highly efficient photoluminescence emission (Ф = 0.45) due to thermally activated delayed fluorescence emanating from the higher-lying singlet configuration with significant LMCT contributions. Zr(MesPDPPh)2 engages in numerous photoredox catalytic processes and triplet energy transfer. Our investigation provides a blueprint for future photosensitizer development featuring early transition metals and excited states with significant LMCT contributions. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]
AB - Advances in chemical control of the photophysical properties of transition-metal complexes are revolutionizing a wide range of technologies, particularly photocatalysis and light-emitting diodes, but they rely heavily on molecules containing precious metals such as ruthenium and iridium. Although the application of earth-abundant ‘early’ transition metals in photosensitizers is clearly advantageous, a detailed understanding of excited states with ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) character is paramount to account for their distinct electron configurations. Here we report an air- and moisture-stable, visible light-absorbing Zr(iv) photosensitizer, Zr(MesPDPPh)2, where [MesPDPPh]2− is the doubly deprotonated form of [2,6-bis(5-(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)-3-phenyl-1H-pyrrol-2-yl)pyridine]. This molecule has an exceptionally long-lived triplet LMCT excited state (τ = 350 μs), featuring highly efficient photoluminescence emission (Ф = 0.45) due to thermally activated delayed fluorescence emanating from the higher-lying singlet configuration with significant LMCT contributions. Zr(MesPDPPh)2 engages in numerous photoredox catalytic processes and triplet energy transfer. Our investigation provides a blueprint for future photosensitizer development featuring early transition metals and excited states with significant LMCT contributions. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]
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U2 - 10.1038/s41557-020-0430-7
DO - 10.1038/s41557-020-0430-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 32203439
AN - SCOPUS:85081932352
SN - 1755-4330
VL - 12
SP - 345
EP - 352
JO - Nature Chemistry
JF - Nature Chemistry
IS - 4
ER -