Influence of substituents in 1,10-phenanthroline on the structural and photophysical properties of W(CO)4(1,10-phenanthroline-type) complexes

Abstract

In this work, methyl and phenyl substituents were introduced in the 2,9- and 4,7-positions of the phen ligand in order to study its impact on the structural and photophysical properties of [W(CO)4(phen-type)] complexes [phen-type = 4,7-dimethyl-1,10-phenanthroline (4,7-DMPhen); 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (BPhen), and 2,9-dimethyl-4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (BCP)]. Crystallographic analysis of these complexes allows to investigate the correlation between the geometrical parameters with their photophysical properties measured by steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopies. The (OC)eq–W–(CO)eq angle is the most significantly influenced geometrical parameter by the substituents, showing values of 92.5°, 90.2°, and 81.2° for [W(CO)4(4,7-DMPhen)], [W(CO)4(BPhen)], and [W(CO)4(BCP)], respectively. The smallest angle observed for [W(CO)4(BCP)] is attributed to a steric repulsion exerted by the methyl groups to the equatorial carbonyls. Remarkably, a smaller OCeq–W–COeq angle favors the High-Energy (HE) emission band, as evidenced in the photoluminescence (PL) spectra of [W(CO)4(BCP)]. Conversely, a greater angle favors the Low-Energy (LE) emission band, as observed in the PL spectra of [W(CO)4(4,7-DMPhen)] and [W(CO)4(BPhen)]. The PL lifetime of the LE emission band becomes shorter when decreasing the (OC)eq–W–(CO)eq angle. Furthermore, the absorption feature was affected by the 2,9-dimethyl substituents, showing greater contribution from the high-energy shoulder on the visible absorption band. This study shows that the perturbation of the (OC)eq–W–(CO)eq angle induced by the substituents in the phen ligand influences on the photophysical properties of [W(CO)4(phen-type)] complexes.