Positional Fluorination of Phenylpyridine: Unexpected Electronic Tuning in Bis-Cyclometalated Iridium(III) Acetylacetonate Complexes.

ABSTRACT: We report a systematic study on the effect of positional fluorination of 2-phenylpyridine (Hppy) cyclometalating ligands in neutral iridium(III) complexes of general formula [Ir(Fppy)₂(acac)], where Fppy = 2-(fluorophenyl)pyridine and acac = acetylacetonate. Five complexes (C1-C5) were synthesized, including a nontrivial asymmetric derivative. The archetypal complexes [Ir(ppy)₂(acac)] (C6) and [Ir(dFppy)₂(acac)] (C7) were also prepared, to serve as reference. We demonstrate that fluorination does not simply induce a general blue shift, but that the specific substitution site on the phenyl ring of the cyclometalating ligands tunes HOMO and LUMO levels in a nontrivial fashion. Indeed, para fluorination (as in C3) affo

SUBMITTER: Sigismondi S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12801313 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature