Acridine N-Heterocyclic Carbene Gold(I) Compounds: Tuning from Yellow to Blue Luminescence

The synthesis and the luminescence features of three gold(I)-N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) complexes are presented to study how the n-alkyl group can influence the luminescence properties in the crystalline state. The mononuclear gold(I)-NHC complexes, [(L-1)Au(Cl)] (1), [(L-2)Au(Cl)] (2), and [(L-3)Au(Cl)] (3) were isolated from the reactions between [(tht)AuCl] and corresponding NHC ligand precursors, [N-(9-acridinyl)-N'-(n-butyl)-imidazolium chloride, (L-1.HCl)], [N-(9-acridinyl)-N'-(n-pentyl)-imidazolium chloride, (L-2.HCl)] and [N-(9-acridinyl)-N'-(n-hexyl)-imidazolium chloride, (L-3.HCl)]. Their single-crystal X-ray analysis reveals the influence of the n-alkyl groups on solid-state packing. A comparison of the luminescence features of 1-3 with n-alkyl substituents is explored. The molecules 1-3 depicted blue emission in the solution state, while the yellow emission (for 1), greenish-yellow emission (for 2), and blue emission (for 3) in the crystalline phase. This paradigm emission shift arises from n-butyl to n-pentyl and n-hexyl in the crystalline state due to the carbon-carbon rotation of the n-alkyl group, which tends to promote unusual solid packing. Hence n-alkyl group adds a novel emission property in the crystalline state. Density Functional Theory and Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory calculations were carried out for monomeric complex, N-(9-acridinyl)-N'-(n-heptyl)imidazole-2-ylidene gold(I) chloride and dimeric complex, N-(9-acridinyl)-N'-(n-heptyl)imidazole-2-ylidene gold(I) chloride to understand the structural and electronic properties.

Automated summary

The study presented the synthesis and luminescent features of three gold(I)-N-heterocyclic carbene complexes to investigate the influence of the n-alkyl group on luminescence properties in the crystalline state. The results showed that the n-alkyl group can lead to emission shifts in the solid-state luminescence spectra.