Photophysics and Electrochemiluminescence of Bright Cyclometalated Ir(III) Complexes in Aqueous Solutions

A family of neutral bis-cyclometalated iridium complexes [Ir((CN)-N-boolean AND)(2)(LX)] has been investigated as ECL labels under immunoassay conditions. Among them, the complex based on phenylphenanthridine (pphent) as the CAN ligand, exhibits outstanding performance and it is a candidate to substitute the commercially available Ru-based label in diagnostics.