Cationic iridium complexes with intramolecular π-π interaction and enhanced steric hindrance for solid-state light-emitting electrochemical cells.

Cationic iridium complexes incorporated 4,5-diaza-9,9'-spirobifluorene as N(∧)N ancillary ligands, in which one (2) or two (3) phenyl groups were introduced onto 4,5-diazafluorene to afford intraligand π-π interactions. The X-ray crystal structures of complexes 2 and 3 show that the pendant phenyl ring forms strong intramolecular face-to-face π-stacking with the difluorophenyl ring of the cyclometalated ligand with distances of 3.38 Å for complex 2 and 3.40 and 3.46 Å for complex 3. This π-π stacking interaction minimizes the expansion of the metal-ligand bonds in the excited state, resulting in a longer device lifetime in the light-emitting electrochemical cell (LEC) devices.