Probing electron excitation characters of carboline-based bis-tridentate ir(III) complexes

In this work, we report a series of bis-tridentate Ir(III) metal complexes, comprising a di-anionic pyrazole-pyridine-phenyl tridentate chelate and a monoanionic chelate bearing a peripheral carbene and carboline coordination fragment that is linked to the central phenyl group. All these Ir(III) complexes were synthesized with an efficient one-pot and two-step method, and their emission hue was fine-tuned by variation of the substituent at the central coordination entity (i.e., pyri-dinyl and phenyl group) of each of the tridentate chelates. Their photophysical and electrochemical properties, thermal stabilities and electroluminescence performances are examined and discussed comprehensively. The doped devices based on [Ir(cbF)(phyz1)] (Cb1) and [Ir(cbB)(phyz1)] (Cb4) give a maximum external quantum efficiency (current efficiency) of 16.6% (55.2 cd/A) and 13.9% (43.8 cd/A), respectively. The relatively high electroluminescence efficiencies indicate that bis-tri-dentate Ir(III) complexes are promising candidates for OLED applications.