Novel dipyrrinatoiridium(III)
complexes, in which a typical element substituent (i.e., arylborane
or arylamino group) was introduced at the meso position of the 5-phenyldipyrrinato
ligand, were designed and synthesized. The (dimesitylboryl)phenyl
complex 1 showed fascinating photophysical properties
arising from a synergistic interaction between metal-to-ligand charge
transfer/ligand-to-ligand charge transfer and charge transfer from
the π orbital of the aryl group to the vacant p orbital on the
boron atom [π(aryl)–p(B) charge transfer]. On the other
hand, the (N,N-diphenylamino)phenyl
complex 2 showed the most intense and longest-lived emission
from the 3ππ*-type excited state in the dipyrrinato
moiety among the complexes in the present study. These characteristics
of the complexes were evaluated in terms of the structures and spectroscopic
and photophysical properties.