Similar luminescent behavior in an established rhenacarborane complex, [3,3-(CO)2-3-NO-closo-3,1,2-ReC2B9H11] and a new complex anion, [3,3,3-(CO)3-8-I-closo-3,1,2-ReC2B9H10]–

The compounds [3,3-(CO)2-3-NO-closo-3,1,2-ReC2B9H11] and [NEt4][3,3,3-(CO)3-8-I-closo-3,1,2-ReC2B9H10] have been shown to be emissive in MeTHF at 77 K, with λmax in the blue region of the visible spectrum. Emission from [3,3,3-(CO)3-8-I-closo-3,1,2-ReC2B9H10]–, which has been structurally characterized, is phosphorescent with a single exponential decay lifetime, τ=1.65 ms. The complex [3,3-(CO)2-3-NO-closo-3,1,2-ReC2B9H11] also emits in the solid state at 298 K and has been shown by diffuse-reflectance UV–vis measurement to have a band gap of 2.66 eV.