Photophysics of π-conjugated oligomers and polymers that contain transition metal complexes

Abstract

There has been a surge of interest concerning the synthesis, optical and electronic properties of π-conjugated polymers that contain transition metal complexes. The integration of transition metal chromophores that feature metal to ligand charge transfer (MLCT) excited states into a π-conjugated polymer permits easy variation of the material’s optical and electronic properties. In this review, we survey a number of recent photophysical studies that examine π-conjugated oligomer or polymer/transition metal complex hybrids. The effects of the types of π-conjugated backbone, oligomer and polymer structure, the conjugation length and coordination to a variety of metal chromophores on the photophysics of the organic-metal hybrids are discussed. The degree of interaction between the polymer (or oligomer) and metal complex based excited states dramatically modulates the observed photophysics.