NIR-emissive iridium(III) corrole complexes as efficient singlet oxygen sensitizers

Three new iridium(III) corrole complexes, having symmetrically and asymmetrically substituted corrole frameworks and judiciously varied axial ligands are prepared and characterized by various spectroscopic techniques including the X-ray structures of two of them. The observed phosphorescence at ambient temperature appears at much longer wavelengths than the previously reported Ir(III) porphyrin/corrole derivatives. Efficiencies of these compounds in the generation of singlet oxygen are also studied for the first time.