The synthesis and photophysical study of a family of cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes are reported. The iridium complexes have two cyclometalated (C(**)N) ligands and a single monoanionic, bidentate ancillary ligand (LX), i.e., C(**)N2Ir(LX). The C(**)N ligands can be any of a wide variety of organometallic ligands. The LX ligands used for this study were all beta-diketonates, with the major emphasis placed on acetylacetonate (acac) complexes. The majority of the C(**)N2Ir(acac) complexes phosphoresce with high quantum efficiencies (solution quantum yields, 0.1-0.6), and microsecond lifetimes (e.g., 1-14 micros). The strongly allowed phosphorescence in these complexes is the result of significant spin-orbit coupling of the Ir center. The lowest energy (emissive) excited state in these C(**)N2Ir(acac) complexes is a mixture of (3)MLCT and (3)(pi-pi) states. By choosing the appropriate C(**)N ligand, C(**)N2Ir(acac) complexes can be prepared which emit in any color from green to red. Simple, systematic changes in the C(**)N ligands, which lead to bathochromic shifts of the free ligands, lead to similar bathochromic shifts in the Ir complexes of the same ligands, consistent with "C(**)N2Ir"-centered emission. Three of the C(**)N2Ir(acac) complexes were used as dopants for organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). The three Ir complexes, i.e., bis(2-phenylpyridinato-N,C2')iridium(acetylacetonate) [ppy2Ir(acac)], bis(2-phenyl benzothiozolato-N,C2')iridium(acetylacetonate) [bt2Ir(acac)], and bis(2-(2'-benzothienyl)pyridinato-N,C3')iridium(acetylacetonate) [btp2Ir(acac)], were doped into the emissive region of multilayer, vapor-deposited OLEDs. The ppy2Ir(acac)-, bt2Ir(acac)-, and btp2Ir(acac)-based OLEDs give green, yellow, and red electroluminescence, respectively, with very similar current-voltage characteristics. The OLEDs give high external quantum efficiencies, ranging from 6 to 12.3%, with the ppy2Ir(acac) giving the highest efficiency (12.3%, 38 lm/W, >50 Cd/A). The btp2Ir(acac)-based device gives saturated red emission with a quantum efficiency of 6.5% and a luminance efficiency of 2.2 lm/W. These C(**)N2Ir(acac)-doped OLEDs show some of the highest efficiencies reported for organic light emitting diodes. The high efficiencies result from efficient trapping and radiative relaxation of the singlet and triplet excitons formed in the electroluminescent process.

The preparation, photophysics, and solid state structures of octahedral organometallic Ir complexes with several different cyclometalated ligands are reported. IrCl3.nH2O cleanly cyclometalates a number of different compounds (i.e., 2-phenylpyridine, 2-(p-tolyl)pyridine, benzoquinoline, 2-phenylbenzothiazole, 2-(1-naphthyl)benzothiazole, and 2-phenylquinoline), forming the corresponding chloride-bridged dimers, CwedgeN2Ir(mu-Cl)2IrCwedgeN2 (CwedgeNis a cyclometalated ligand) in good yield. These chloride-bridged dimers react with acetyl acetone (acacH) and other bidentate, monoanionic ligands such as picolinic acid (picH) and N-methylsalicylimine (salH), to give monomeric CwedgeN2Ir(LX) complexes (LX = acac, pic, sal). The emission spectra of these complexes are largely governed by the nature of the cyclometalating ligand, leading to lambda(max) values from 510 to 606 nm for the complexes reported here. The strong spin-orbit coupling of iridium mixes the formally forbidden 3MLCT and 3pi-pi* transitions with the allowed 1MLCT, leading to a strong phosphorescence with good quantum efficiencies (0.1-0.4) and room temperature lifetimes in the microsecond regime. The emission spectra of the CwedgeN2Ir(LX) complexes are surprisingly similar to the fac-IrCwedgeN3 complex of the same ligand, even though the structures of the two complexes are markedly different. The crystal structures of two of the CwedgeN2Ir(acac) complexes (i.e., CwedgeN = ppy and tpy) have been determined. Both complexes show cis-C,C', trans-N,N' disposition of the two cyclometalated ligands, similar to the structures reported for other complexes with a "CwedgeN2Ir" fragment. NMR data (1H and 13C) support a similar structure for all of the CwedgeN2Ir(LX) complexes. Close intermolecular contacts in both (ppy)2Ir(acac) and (tpy)2Ir(acac) lead to significantly red shifted emission spectra for crystalline samples of the ppy and tpy complexes relative to their solution spectra.

Photophysical properties are reported for a series of cyclometalated platinum and iridium complexes that can serve as photosensitizers for singlet oxygen. The complexes have the formula (C;N)(2)Ir(O;O) or (C;N)Pt(O;O) where C;N is a monoanionic cyclometalating ligand such as 2-(phenyl)pyridyl and 2-(phenyl)quinolyl, and O;O is the ancillary ligand acetylacetonate (acac) or dipivaloylmethane (dpm). Also examined were a series of (N;N)PtMe(2) complexes where N;N is a diimine such as 2,2'-bipyridyl. In general, the cyclometalated complexes are excellent photosensitizers for the production of singlet oxygen, while the (N;N)PtMe(2) complexes were ineffective at this reaction. Quantum yields of singlet oxygen production range from 0.9-1.0 for the cyclometalated Pt complexes and 0.5-0.9 for Ir complexes. Luminescence quenching and singlet oxygen formation of the Ir complexes occurs from a combination of electron and energy transfer processes, whereas the Pt complexes only react by energy transfer. For Ir complexes with low emission energy, physical deactivation of the triplet excited state becomes competitive with energy transfer to ground state dioxygen. The rates of singlet oxygen quenching for the complexes presented here are in the range 6 x 10(6)-2 x 10(7) M(-1) s(-1) for Pt complexes and 2 x 10(5)-2 x 10(7) M(-1) s(-1) for Ir complexes, respectively. Differences in the efficiency of both forming and quenching singlet oxygen between the Ir and Pt cyclometalates are believed to come about from the more exposed coordination geometry in the latter species.

Several new iridium based cyclometalated complexes were investigated as phosphorescent dopants for molecularly doped polymeric organic light-emitting diodes. Specifically, the complexes used in this study were iridium (III) bis(2-phenylpyridinato-N,C2′) (acetylacetonate) [ppy], iridium (III) bis(7,8-benzoquinolinato-N,C3′) (acetylacetonate) [bzq], iridium (III) bis(2-phenylbenzothiazolato-N,C2′) (acetylacetonate) [bt], iridium (III) bis(2-(2′-naphthyl)benzothiazolato-N,C2′) (acetylacetonate) [bsn] and iridium (III) bis(2-(2′-benzo[4,5-a]thienyl)pyridinato-N,C3′) (acetylacetonate) [btp]. Single layer devices of doped polyvinylcarbazole: 2-(4-biphenyl)-5-(4-tert-butylphenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole give maximum external quantum efficiencies that varied from 3.5% for the ppy dopant to 0.4% for the btp dopant. Several different device heterostructure architectures were explored, and the best quantum efficiency of the devices reached 4.2% for the heterostructures.

We report the singlet oxygen sensitization properties of a series of bis-cyclometalated Ir(III) complexes (i.e., (bt)2Ir(acac), (bsn)2Ir(acac), and (pq)2Ir(acac); bt = 2-phenylbenzothiazole, bsn = 2-(1-naphthyl)benzothiazole, pq = 2-phenylquinoline, and acac = acetylacetonate). Complexes with acetylacetonate ancillary ligands give singlet oxygen quantum yields near unity (PhiDelta = (0.7-1.0) +/- 0.1), whether exciting the ligand-based state or the lowest energy excited state (MLCT + 3LC). The singlet oxygen quenching rates for these beta-diketonate complexes were found to be small [(5 +/- 2) x 105 to (6 +/- 0.2) x 106 M-1 s-1], roughly 3 orders of magnitude slower than the corresponding phosphorescence quenching rate. Similar complexes were prepared with glycine or pyridine tethered to the Ir(III) center (i.e., (bsn)2Ir(gly) and (bt)2Ir(py)Cl; gly = glycine and py = pyridine). The glycine and pyridine derivatives give high singlet oxygen yields (PhiDelta = (0.7-1.0) +/- 0.1).

Germanium nanoclusters of average diameter 4 nm were prepared with covalently bound termination groups. Chloride-terminated nanoclusters were reacted with a Grignard reagent to form acetal-containing surface-terminated nanoclusters. Treatment with acid yielded hydroxyl-containing surface-terminated nanoclusters, and treatment with an acid bromide and base yielded an ester-containing surface-terminated nanocluster. Atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) was used to graft polymer chains from the surfaces of the nanoparticles to yield hybrid nanostructures. Changes of the termination group in the nanoclusters did not alter the photophysics of the original nanoclusters, a result that is consistent with a stable nanocluster surface. The nanoclusters were characterized by HRTEM (high-resolution transmission electron microscopy), NMR, FTIR, UV−vis, and fluorescence spectroscopy.

A novel tris(chelate) metalloligand has been used to synthesize a chiral, heterometallic metal-organic framework that is robust to solvent removal and shows selective uptake of nitroaromatic compounds.

Home buyers exercise school choice when shopping for a private residence due to its location in a public school district or attendance area. In this quantitative study of one Connecticut suburban district, we measure the effect of elementary school test scores and racial composition on home buyers' willingness to purchase single-family homes over a 10-year period, controlling for house and neighborhood characteristics. Overall, while both test scores and race explain home prices, we found that the influence of tests declined while race became nearly seven times more influential over our decade-long period of study. Our interpretation of the results draws on the shifting context of school accountability, the Internet, and racial dynamics in this suburb over time.