Study of Aggregation and Thermochromic Behaviour of Square-planar Transition Metal Complexes

This project focus on the design and synthesis of a new class of rhodium(I) complexes with interesting aggregation and thermochromic behaviour. Preliminary results showed that the photophysical properties of aggregated form and the monomeric form of this class of complexes are significantly different. Moreover, the aggregation of these complexes can also be controlled by changing the temperature. It is anticipated that the aggregating affinity of these square planar rhodium(I) complexes and the photophysical properties of the aggregated form can be varied by systematic modification of the substituents on the ligands. This will give rise to a new class of thermochromic rhodium(I) complexes with controllable aggregation and interesting excited-state properties, through which molecular devices based on the aggregation of these rhodium(I) complexes could be developed.